Phantom Twister
by Draxen Exilion Claw
Summary: Two friends hop into the VRMMORPG known as Sword Art Online. Now they are trapped in a death game, a death game that breaks peoples morals, ends peoples lives, and drive the rest to insanity. Can Draxen and Dusk make it out with the help of Kirito, Asuna, and Aero? Or will they all meet their ends because if this accursed death game?
1. Town of Beginnings

"Hey, Chris? You get it?" a boy about 16 asked his best friend on the phone.

"Hell yeah Xan! Like I would miss this!" Chris answered excited, and who could blame him? The first VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online finally came out, and Xan and Chris had been waiting eagerly for it.

Xan was a boy with messy black hair; hazel eyes; and was average height. And on his lips there was almost always a smirk that screamed of mischief.

Chris was a taller than Xan, with brown eyes and much neater brown hair, and was often a very collected person, but tick him off, and you're screwed.

"Awesome! What's gonna be your Avatar's name so I can find you?" Xan asked, as to not have to wander around looking for him, "Oh! I'm gonna be Draxen"

"Dusk, as usual" told Chris, but not with the earlier excitement, more with annoyance, "I always choose Dusk, and will always be Dusk alright?" he sighed to Xan.

"Sorry, but you know I can be forgetful sometimes…" Xan muttered back, with a small bit of shame.

"It's fine, c'mon! Let's get in! I'm ready!" Chris whined, getting tired of talking.

"Alright alright!" Xan chuckled, then hung up and put on his NerveGear, "Link Start!"

After inputting his avatar's info, he opened his eyes to the world of SAO as Draxen, "Woah, this is so cool!" he muttered to himself in awe as he looked around the Town of Beginnings.

Draxen's avatar was pretty much the same as in real life, but had violet eyes instead.

A blue light appeared right in front of him as another player spawned, said player had black hair and black eyes, and was taller than Draxen, "Hey Dusk!" he greeted, knowing this was how Dusk normally made his avatar's look.

"Hey Draxen" Dusk greeted back cooly. Draxen frowned, "C'mon! Don't be like that! Let's go explore!" Dusk sighed and went along with Draxen to explore the world.

They were enjoying the world when they realized something… they didn't know how to fight.

"Umm… let's look for someone who knows how" Draxen suggested, Dusk agreed.

The duo walked around a bit till they saw two people fighting a boar-like creature, one had pinkish hair and a bandanna around his head, while the other had black hair, Draxen and Dusk waited until they were done fighting to approach them.

"Hey!" Draxen greeted cheerfully. Dusk just nodded respectfully, Dusk was not very sociable… "Sorry to intrude, but my friend and I are new here, could you teach us the basics of the game?" Draxen asked politely.

The black haired one nodded, "Yeah, my name's Kirito, this is Klein" he gestured to the pink haired man "what's your names?"

Draxen put a hand on his chest and bowed, "I am Draxen, this here is Dusk" he gestured to said player while he was still bowing.

For the next several hours, Kirito and Klein were showing the duo how to fight in the game, Klein stepped away to log out while the others were fighting, when suddenly, "Hey! Where's the logout button?"

Draxen raised an eyebrow, "Really Klein?" he sighed while opening the menu, "It's right-" he suddenly stopped, gaining a panicked look on his face, "hey wait… what the?! It's gone!"

Dusk and Kirito checked as well, and it really wasn't there! "Someone contact the GM" Kirito suggested.

"Just did that" Klein told them in a worried tone. Suddenly a bell tolled across the map.

"What's going on?" Dusk spoke, a subtle tone of worry within his voice that did not go unnoticed by Draxen, "Let's just hope that everything is alright Dusk" he said in an attempt to comfort Dusk.

"Yeah…" Dusk muttered worriedly. Suddenly, in a flash of blue, they were all teleported to the Town of Beginnings.

Everyone was chatting, wondering what to do or what's going on, that all was silenced when the sky turned the color of blood, and red ooze began to leak out, forming a large man in a robe.

"Attention Players!" the voice from the robed man announced, "I welcome you to my world."

From his left Draxen could hear Kirito mutter something, "What does he mean by that?" Draxen nudged him, and he turned to look, "Kirito, I'm with you on that, something doesn't feel right with the way he said that" Draxen told him.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba" the man resumed, "And as of this moment, I am in control of this world" he then went on to explain that the lack of a logout button was not a bug, and explained how they were trapped here, and trying to remove the headgear will kill you, as well as dying in the game, and that the only way to escape was to clear the game.

"Last but not least, I have placed a present in the item storage of every player, please, have a look" Everyone opened there item storage.

"What the- a mirror?" Dusk muttered from Draxen's right. Suddenly, blue lights filled the room, and when they were gone, everyone had changed appearance. Draxen turned to his right, and saw Dusk, but what he looked like in the real world, he saw Kirito had changed as well, with a more of a teenager's face than before, as well as shorter hair.

"Kirito, are you okay?" Draxen heard Klein's voice, as well as Kirito responding that he was fine, Draxent turned to see Klein, but with red hair and a much more rugged appearance.

"What's going on? Dusk asked, Kirito responded with, "I think he's about to explain" pointing at the GM.

And explain he did, how he wanted a world of his own to control, where other's fate were played by his hands. And with that, he disappeared, and the sky returned to normal.

Everyone was in shock, soon, a girl screamed, and everyone went into panic, "Guys, C'mon!" Kirito urged as he rushed out, with Dusk, Draxen and Klein close behind.

The four ran into an alley in the town, "Listen, I'm going to head out right now for the next village, I want you three to come" He explained that if they wanted to survive, they would have to become as strong as possible, and how resources are limited.

"I would like to go with you Kirito" Klein said, then realized something, "but my friends… they're back at the plaza, sorry" and ran off back to the plaza.

Kirito turned to the duo, "We'll go with you" Dusk and Draxen said simultaneously. Kirito nodded, "Then lets go" he said, and ran off towards the next village, with Dusk and Draxen close behind.


	2. Preparations

**From now on, the story will be in Draxen's POV, just so you know**.

* * *

A month has passed since this death game started. Dusk and I have been power leveling with Kirito, and have reached level 12. I had a similar style to Kirito, in that I only wielded a one-handed sword, but I held my sword upside-down; Dusk was skilled with a sword as well but he was more of a defensive class, he would be the target, and I would switch in and deal the damage, he would also cover me when I was down.

About two days ago Dusk started a blacksmithing shop and had been making pretty nice weapons, and then selling them, but not for outrageous prices either. I had started a small training business, where I would help train the lower-leveled players, we both made pretty decent Col. Sometimes I would give me excess gear to other players as well to help them stay alive, it's a shame 2,000 people have died already though.

"Hey Draxen!" Dusk called out to me, snapping me out of thought, "Yeah?" I called back, "There's gonna be a meeting about how to find and defeat the first floor boss" he told me, walking up to me.

"Really? When?" I inquired, standing up. "In 10 minutes, let's get going" Dusk stated, grabbing my arm, and ignoring my protests of 'Hey! Let go!'

Dusk dragged me towards the amphitheater, where several of the higher level players were gathered.

A man with light blue hair stood in the middle, after a minute, he clapped his hands and began his spiel, "Hello everyone! Thank you for coming, my name is Diabel, and my job is a knight!" several people laughed at his final statement, someone shouted, "There are no jobs!"

Diabel laughed, "Okay okay, do you wanna hear this or not?" people quieted down, Diabel turned serious, "Here's the deal our party found the location of the boss room at the top of the tower"

Murmurs of 'no way' and 'really' swept over the crowd. "We need to defeat the boss, and make it to floor two" Diabel continued, "then we have to tell everyone it IS possible to beat this game!" he raised a fist, "It's our job is the most capable players here, do you all agree?"

Murmurs struck once again, I looked over to Dusk, and he nodded at me, silently telling me he was in agreement with Diabel. I nodded back, and began clapping, soon others clapped as well, some whistled, either way, it was clear everyone was in agreement.

"Alright, first we'll divide into parties of six" Diabel continued, I turned to Dusk, "Hey, we'll team up, and how about we join with Kirito too?" Dusk gave a thoughtful look, then replied, "We can ask, he is mainly a solo player though…" I nodded, what Dusk said is true, Kirito did often play solo, but he was only 1 level above us.

I opened my menu and sent a party invite to Dusk, who accepted, we then went over to Kirito, who was with someone in a cloak, "Hey Kirito!" he turned to me, "Hey Draxen, you and Dusk in a party?" I nodded, Dusk did too, "We were wondering if you two wanted to party up with the two of us" Dusk asked. Kirito turned to the cloaked person, who hesitated, but nodded.

"Alright then" he said, and sent us an invite, which of course, we accepted. We then sat down next to Kirito and… Asuna, it looked like from the party HP bar.

"Looked like everyone's teamed up then" Diabel announced, and began to state the next part of the plan, "now-" "Hold on a second!" a voice shouted in anger, a man with spiky brown hair jumped down to the middle of the amphitheater.

"My name's Kibao, got that?" Kibao stated, "Before we got after the boss, I have something I wanna get off my chest" my new party and I raised an eyebrow, I think Asuna did too, hard to tell since I can't see their face.

He then went on rant about how it's the beta tester's faults that those 2000 players died, because they stole grind spots and resources and crap. I glanced at Kirito, because I knew he was a beta tester. But to be honest, I didn't believe him, I mean, I saw a beta tester giving out some handbooks about the floors while I was in town a while back. But still, I noticed Kirito had a pained expression, I was about to say something when...

"Can I say something?" a deep voice asked. A large man that was bald stood up, he looked pretty strong, with that large axe of his on the back of him. The man walked down towards Kibao.

"Hey, my name's Agil" he introduced himself, "Kibao right? Just to make sure, you said the beta tester's didn't help anyone, and that it's their fault the 2000 people died, right?"

Kibao nodded, "Yeah, that's right" he said, but with a tone that asked where Agil was going with this. Agil pulled a small book out of his pocket, "The item store hands these out for free" It was then I realized he was doing the same thing I was about to do, "This is a guidebook, you got one didn't you?" Kibao nodded, "Yeah, so what?"

"You know who was handing these out? The beta testers" he then turned his focus to the crowd. "The beta testers did try help people, but those people were too ignorant to listen, I'm not gonna point fingers, and I wanna get out of here too, so I'm gonna learn from others mistakes so I don't make them! You all should do the same, and not blame your misfortune on others!" Agil finished, then walked back to his seat. Kibao doing the same. The rest of the meeting was nothing but Diabel explaining the plan.

Later, back at Dusk's shop, which was also where we lived, I was just checking my stats and all,when I noticed something, "Hey Dusk?" I called out, currently he was finishing up an order from someone, I normally got the materials, and he would forge them.

"Coming" he replied, and after a small while he entered my room, "Yeah what is it?" he asked with an eyebrow raised. "Come here" I gestured to him, he walked over and was able to see my menu. I pointed at something, "Is it just me, or is that actually there?" His eyes widened, "Holy... I've never heard of that!"

What we were referring to, was a new skill I found on my menu: Zatoichi Style [Level: 132/1000] and I had unlocked a skill from that called Whirlwind Slash, which was a five hit combo attack; up left, down left, up, down, down.

"You should ask Kirito about this" Dusk suggested. I nodded, I was about to do that anyways.

I saw Kirito on the map, since we were on each other's friend lists, and saw him not moving near an alley, I assumed he was talking, to someone, and sure enough he was, with the Asuna person, it looked like they just ate as well.

"Hey Kirito?" he made a startled action, as well as Asuna, and turned to face me, "Yeah what is it?"

"Have you ever heard of the Zatoichi Style skill before?" Kirito's eyes widened, "No… I haven't but it could be something called a unique skill, a skill no one but a single player has, I think you obtained it from the way you fight" Kirito explained. I nodded in understanding, "Thanks Kirito, goodnight, see ya at the boss fight!" I called back as I walked back to my room, chuckling at the small rhyme I made on accident.


	3. Illfang

Kirito, Asuna, Dusk, and I were with the other players, standing directly in front of the boss room. "Alright, ready?" Diabel asked, we all cheered. "Then let's go" he opened the boss room door, everyone tensed up as they walked in. Our party was tasked with keeping the Ruin Kobold Minions off the main attacking teams.

We slowly walked into the dark room, up ahead, I saw a silhouette of some beast, I then saw its red eyes gleam menacingly.

The room became enveloped in light and color, and I could see Illfang easily now, as it had jumped towards the first group. It was deep red with a blue design on its chest, and a hideous face that looked like a failed offspring between a boar and a wolf. It then roared, and summoned three minions. "Alright everyone! ATTACK!" Diabel called, and we began our assault.

Dusk and I were currently fighting a minion next to Kirito and Asuna, I was slashing away. _Left, up right, down_ "Switch!" I called as Dusk leapt in too handle the attack with his shield, he too the swung at the beast, "Switch!" he jumped back and I, in, sword skill at the ready, with 3 swings I finished the beast. We turned and saw Asuna take out the one beside us with her rapier. "Nice going you two!" I called out to them over the sound of battle. We turned towards Illfang, he was nearing the end of his 2nd health bar, I saw another minion spawn near me, but I had a plan.

"You two! Take care of this minion! Dusk and I are gonna deal some damage!" I called out to the two. They nodded in response and charged towards the minion, as Dusk and I went up front. I jumped, and activated Whirlwind Slash "HYAAHH!" I slashed it in the combo order:

 _Up left then spin into down left then spin into upper slash then double flip with two downward cuts!_ After the last downward slash I springboarded off the boss, but not fast enough, he cut my arm, and I watched as my HP went from about 95% down to 65%. But when I saw the damage I did it was worth it, I took out half of his bottom HP bar as well as the last quarter of his 2nd hp bar!

But that was when I felt the effects of the powerful attack on _me_ , I looked and saw I my defense had dropped, "DUSK COVER ME!" I cried out in worry as Illfang raised his sword to strike me, but thank God, my friend came and blocked the attack, then dragged me away for my status to recover.

Kirito and Asuna looked at me in shock, after they saw my display, they then noticed my weakened state and realized my attack had a recoil effect.

Suddenly the boss roared as it's HP dropped into the red, and it threw its weapons down, I heard Diabel shout that he could handle the rest.

But when it pulled out a large Nodachi, Kirito shouted, "WAIT DON'T DO IT!" Before Diabel could get a hit in, he was slashed by the boss's humongous sword. I saw Kirito rush over to Diabel's dying body, but I couldn't hear what he said. Dusk and I rushed forward, trying to hold it off, but to little success, we were both smacked into a wall, I saw both out HP's drop into the red zone.

I saw Kirito charge at the beast, with Asuna, still in her cloak, how one could move in that thing I don't know, but anyways, the were dealing damage to the boss, and had it at less than 10% health.

"C'mon" I heard Dusk grunt, "We… gotta help them!" He tried to stand, but I held him down, "No, we're nearly dead! They still have at least 75% HP, we only have 15% each!" I reasoned with him, "One hit from that thing and we're dead! We just have to have faith" Dusk growled, but sat down nonetheless, and took out a potion, as did I. Thankfully, it got us back to the green zone.

But we didn't attack yet, we were stuck in awe at the Kirito and Asuna, who had been dealing damage like mad, and Asuna had apparently lost her cloak, for I could clearly see her long chestnut hair, and fierce brown eyes. Soon, I saw Kirito switch in, and make the largest slice on the boss yet. I saw Illfang fly into the air… and shatter.

 _Did...did we actually… beat it?!_ Disbelief ran through my head. I saw a window appear next to me, telling me my winnings, and that I had leveled up to 13. I then saw a new window appear, "You got the most damage bonus!" and it gave me a Hellish Ingot, I would haveto give that to Dusk to forge...

Soon, people started cheering, I went up to Kirito, who was still kneeling, obviously exhausted. I patted him on the back, "Hey, nice job finishing the boss" Kirito shook himself, "Why thank me, you took out the equivalent of ¾ of a health bar!"

"STOP CHEERING!" A voice cried out, it was Kibao, an he was glaring at Kirito, "Why, why did you let him die?" he cried, several people gasped, "YOU KNEW!...You knew the boss was going to do that didn't you?" he stated in anger and grief.

"Wha?" I muttered to myself, Kirito didn't know, I saw the look of shock on his face when Illfang pulled out an Nodachi and not a Talwar. Some cried out, "Yeah, and it's probably because he's a beta tester!" more gasps, but the guy made it worse, "and I bet there are more around here to! Show yourselves!" People began glaring at one another, I heard Kirito mutter something to himself.

"THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU!" Dusk roared, shocking everyone, "KIRITO JUST BEAT THE BOSS! WHO CARES IF HE IS A BETA TESTER!?" Everyone stopped to look at him. Dusk turned his glare to Kibao, "AND YOU! MAKING EVERYTHING WORSE! IT WAS OBVIOUS FROM KIRITO'S FACE THAT HE _DIDN'T_ KNOW WHAT THE BOSS WAS ABOUT TO DO!" But before he could go on, Kirito began to laugh.

"So you think I was a beta tester, huh?" even Dusk was thrown off by Kirito's cold voice, but I knew what he was doing, as he stood up and began to walk towards the crowd "It's not cool to put me in the same category as those noobs" people began to gasp once more. Murmurs began, but Kirito wasn't done, "The other beta-testers were rookies, they were so green, they didn't even know how to level" he stopped in front of Kibao, "I did know the boss's attack patterns, because i've fought so many on higher floors" Kibao clenched his fists, "You're not just a beta-tester, you're a god-damn cheater!" he yelled, insults came from the other players, until someone said, "He's a beater!"

"A beater? Yeah, I like that" Kirito said as he opened his menu, and began changing his items, "you can call me that as long as you don't compare me to the other beta testers" he then changed his outfit as he put on The Coat of Midnight. He walked away to go to the next floor, but Asuna called out to him, with us rushing over to him.

"When we were fighting, you called me by my name, how did you know it?" she asked.

"If you look about here" Kirito pointed at where he saw the party members, "You'll see the other party members' names"

I saw Asuna looking where Kirito pointed, "Ki...Kiri..Kirito? Are you Kirito?" said player nodded. Asuna then giggled, "That was dumb, your name was there the whole time!"

Kirito looked towards the doors, "You can only go so far as a solo player, if someone you trust invites you into a guild, don't hesitate" he said sagely, as he dissolved our party.

Asuna nodded, and slowly walked back as Kirito opened the doors to the next floor. He was about to go in when he turned, "Well? Aren't you to going to go as well?"

"Like hell, we don't care if you're a beater, you're still out friend" Dusk told him sternly, I nodded. "Well then, let's go" he said as we went into the next floor.


	4. Fenrir

About two months have passed since Kirito was named a 'Beater'. The 8th floor had been discovered several days ago, and Dusk and I currently lived there, as well as set up shop. We were both level 25 and 29, I was the stronger one, and were two of the richest players in Aincrad, mainly Dusk's blacksmithing business, he charged for fair prices, unlike most smiths, and Dusk had nearly maxed out his Blacksmithing skill already, as well as his one handed sword skill, we often went material gathering together, but most of the time I went alone to gather, he would normally be doing orders in the meantime.

Me? After my insane attack on Illfang, people swarmed me, asking how I got the skill to do that… I assume Argo told many people that because about three quarters of the people that asked me about weren't in the boss raid. The Hellish Ingot I got from the Most Damage Bonus? I gave it to Dusk to forge, it was a heavy purplish color with red and black cracks along it. He forged it into a one-of-a-kind sword, with a black hilt, and violet blade with a single red line going down the middle, it was easily the one of the strongest swords so far, with 300-350 damage, it was called Violet Slayer, a fitting name.

Currently I was back in the Town of Beginnings with Dusk, wanting to confirm with Argo that the rumor of the mini-boss was true.

"Hmm… that info will cost you two, about 1,000 Col, each" she told us, we sighed but gave her the money, "Alright, I hear it's near the middle of the 1st floor in a cave somewhere, which one I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's northeast of a village. Be warned though, several players are after it because it drops a cool cloak. It's called the King Wolf Fenrir, and there's a rumor that whoever beats it, cannot be harmed by any wolven creature"

Dusk nodded, "Thanks for the info" and we walked off to go find the mini-boss.

"I wonder how powerful it is…" I mutter to myself. "I think it will be easy" Dusk shrugged, "after all, we are level 25 plus, and don't you want to test out your skill?" he furrowed his brow, "What was it called again?" I sighed, "Severing Strike, according to the description, it's a powerful attack that can slash anything in half, if I hit the neck, it might insta kill, but it's really hard to wield apparently" I stopped to take a breath, "If I hit a limb it will cut it off, and if I hit it and it doesn't meet the earlier statements, it inflicts Bleeding 3, but the recoil is I lose some of my HP, a lot more if I miss"

"Sounds overpowered" Dusk stated bluntly. I nodded, but held up a finger, "Yeah, but it is very inaccurate" he thought for a minute, "I guess that means it's a 50/50, miss and you're probably screwed, hit and they're probably screwed" I sighed at his simplification on my skill but nodded nonetheless, "Yeah, that's pretty much the basis of it"

I stopped walking, we had reached a small group of people who were blocking the way. "What's going on?" Dusk asked them, they had looks of fear on their faces, "D-don't go in! The Head Wolf is in there!" I looked at Dusk and smiled, then turned back to the group of players, "Good, we're searching for him, now can we pass?" They gave us looks of shock, "A-are you i-insane? We just lost two of our team members there! W-we're all level 19 and that b-boss as 6 health bars!"

"We're level 25 and 29, we also have teleport crystals at the ready, alright?" I told them, Dusk and I were gonna beat this boss if it was the last thing we did. Wait… that didn't come out right…

"Al-alright" the man talking gulped, "Good luck" we nodded and smiled gratefully. Once we passed by him, I whispered to Dusk, "6 health bars? This might end bad…" Dusk nodded grimly, "At least we still have our teleportation crystals" I nodded at his statement.

It was after that we heard a threatening growl that made my hair nearly stand on end, as I focused my vision in the slightly darker cave, I could see a large shadow, it wasn't until we made it into the chamber that I saw what we were up against.

It was a massive 7 foot tall silver wolf, it's canine fangs as large as my hand, claws rivaling the sharpest knives, and black eyes that seemed to peer into your soul for fear.

Fear it found…

But we held our ground as it reared its head and howled, 'Fenrir The King of Wolves' name appeared above its head, followed by 6 health bars forming semicircle around it. "Oh God" I heard Dusk mutter.

"I have a plan, try to get it to attack you, I'll use then use Whirlwind Slash on him, at my level it should take out one HP bar, it will then be aggroed on me" I began explaining as the beast looked at us, not moving… probably because we haven't moved either, "Then, I want you to use a stunning skill so I can recover, and you can do heavy damage, we'll keep repeating that system, alright?" Dusk nodded in confirmation of my plan, and charged Fenrir The King of Wolves aiming to slash at him, but missed as the beast leapt back.

I snuck around the back, preparing to strike, while I know it seems cruel to make Dusk be a target, we made a deal, he would mainly level up his defense stat, along with strength, so he would be more of a tanky player, I would be the swift and strong, so I could deal tons of damage, luckily, we shared the EXP and divided the Col among us, and if it came to the Last Attack Bonus, whoever got it, kept it, any items were the same.

Dusk was doing well holding it off, and managed to get some good hits in, it was down about ¾ the 6th HP bar, I was waiting for him to take out the first HP bar, so in case it decided to change tactics I could rush in before it could. I checked Dusk's HP to be safe and I sighed in relief as it had only gone down about 15%, like I said, he was tanky, and we were both assisting with the assault team and the front lines, so we were stronger than most players.

I saw Dusk chip off the last bit of HP on Fenrir The King of Wolves top HP bar and I made my move, shouting to get its attention. I activated Whirlwind Slash and spun, adding more power to the already dangerous combo:

 _Up Left, Down Left, Up, Down, DOWN!_ At the fina down, I added my own trick I created where I would spin on an axis repeatedly to deal more damage, constantly slashing left. I managed to get 4 extra hits in before I backed off, and was pleased with the results. I had managed to clear it's 5th HP bar and get a little more than a quarter of its 4th HP bar.

Then came the risky part, I felt my defense drop rapidly, and I was sure if I got hit, I was dead, that's how the system balances the power of my skills, it gives me either a status effect or debuff, to weaken me. That's why I never use Zatoichi Style skills unless two criteria are met; I was in a party with Dusk or someone I trusted, and it was a boss fight with a group, that way I had someone to cover me while I was weakened.

By the time my defense rose back to normal, Dusk had managed to get it down 75% of it's 3rd HP bar, I was pleased by the speed we were doing this at. I decided to try Severing Strike out, "DUSK! I'M GONNA TRY IT OUT!"

"ALRIGHT! I'LL GET ON MY GUARD!" he shouted back as he went into a defensive position, I dropped into a stance as if I was starting a race, and activated the skill, I saw my blade turn blood red, burst forward.

I was aiming for Fenrir's leg, but I watched in horror as its head swung in my direction and jumped behind me, then raked my back with its claws, throwing me into a wall, I had enough strength to turn and see Dusk roar in rage, and my HP drop to the double digits. The last thing I saw was Dusk slashing like mad at the beast before my vision went black.


	5. Dusk, The Alpha

"...xen" I heard something… but what? "Drax...en" I tried to move, but my body felt like concrete, but… I felt that I was moving slightly? Was I shaking? "Draxen...DRAXEN!" I opened my eyes to find Dusk shaking me, tears in his eyes.

"Urgh... someone…" I saw him tense up as I tried to speak, my HP was still in the red, "get the…" "Get what? Get what?" "license plate number on that truck?" I smiled weakly. Dusk quickly let go of me and groaned, "My God, you nearly die and the first thing you say when you wake up is a joke?" he turned serious, "You have any potions? I'm all out from using them on Fenrir" I nodded, "Yeah… let me…" I opened my menu and item storage, and got out a potion and drank one, my HP went up to yellow.

"Gah… my head" I grumbled, I then remembered what we were doing, "the mini-boss?! Where is it?" Dusk scratched the back of his head, "About that… I beat it, while you were out, I saw you level up to 30, and I to 26" I stared at him dumbfounded, "Wait…" My brain was trying to process what he just said, I _was_ level 30 now…wait what?!, "YOU BEAT IT YOURSELF?!" I screamed in shock, jumping to my feet.

"Yeah… don't ask for a repeat, I'm not sure how I did it…" I was still in shock, if I remember correctly, he had to have taken out 3 FULL HP BARS, against that mini-boss. "Well then" I began, trying to regain composure, "Put on the cloak, let's see what it looks like"

"Oh, yeah, sorry I was a bit caught up in MAKING SURE YOU WERE OKAY!" he stated bluntly, shouting that last part to make a point, I shrugged, "Sorry, but still, you killed the alpha of wolves man" he sighed at my comment and stood up to put on the cloak, and damn it was sick.

It was a pelt of shiny silvery fur, near his feet were ornaments that looked like claws, and a the hem near his neck was a fang like design, part of it came up like a bandanna around his face. When he raised his arms to check the interior, I saw whitish leather.

"Woah…" we said in unison, aweing at the cloak, "What are the stats on it?" I ask him, managing to get my mind off how cool the cloak looked. I saw him check the menu and his eyes widened, "It's nearly double the defense of my last gear, which was top of its game on floor 7!" My jaw dropped about 12 feet at that.

"Thats...damn…" I was literally speechless, I looked around, and was able to find my voice once again, "We should get back to the shop" I told him, we had recently moved to the 6th floor, it didn't cost much to us, since we had about 300,000 Col, each, and it was only 50,000 for the place.

"Yeah" he muttered. When we were out of the cave, we encountered the group we ran into earlier. "Hey you're alive!" the first guy cheered, it was then I noticed that Dusk's HP was _almost_ in the red.

I motioned my hands to calm down while saying the words, "Yeah, Dusk here got the cloak, he took out the beast on his own, after I took away about one and a half HP bars. "He's a king slayer!" one guy said, someone thought of a better idea, "No, he's The Alpha!" the others nodded and cheered in agreement, I clapped Dusk on the back, "Good job Dusk, or should I say, Alpha?" Dusk scratched his head, "Quit it" but after that I heard him mutter, "Though, that does sound badass" I laughed as we headed back to a safe zone.

"Teleport Krycim!" we spoke in unison, teleport crystals in front of us.

* * *

Two weeks after Dusk had defeated Fenrir had passed, and news of his victory spread like a wildfire (I may have made a deal with Argo, but Dusk doesn't need to know that). Now people everywhere were calling him 'The Alpha' everywhere.

As of now, Dusk and I were back on floor 4, we were going over some quest we may have missed on the previous floors, like back on floor 2, were we unlocked the martial arts skill, one I use a lot in addition to Zatoichi Style. Dusk and I were doing the Avalanche quest, it was a simply one where we had to find a field boss and kill it. One problem…

"Where the hell is this thing?!" Dusk shouted exasperatedly, we've been searching for several hours. "I kno-" "RAAARRRGHH" I grinned, "Well… found it, you're still lower than me so you can have it", he growled at me for that, but went forward anyway, as of now, he was level 28, and I was level 32, the frontal assault team had just reached floor 20, which shocked the hell outta me, since they were only working on floor nine when Dusk and I went back to challenge Fenrir, they were now on break since they reached a fifth of the way up.

I snapped out of my trance of thinking to see Dusk finish off the large creature, something resembling the Abominable Snowman, in two hits, after all, we were one of the stronger players in Aincrad, behind Kirito and Asuna, who had become a floor clearing badass, and Kirito was his usual self, but even he was shocked when he heard Dusk took out Fenrir almost alone. To be honest I felt like he was holding something back-

"Hey Draxen!" I snapped out of thinking once again, "I got a dragon egg!" Dusk shouted in excitement. "No way, really?" I spoke in surprise as I came up to him, and sure enough, after a few taps in his menu, a, icy blue egg appeared. "Woah" I then saw cracks forming and light pouring out of them, "It's hatching already?" Dusk muttered in surprise, sure enough, the shell broke and disappeared, and in its place in Dusk's hands was a small ice dragon. Dear God it was adorable…

"What you gonna name him?" I asked Dusk, who was staring at the Ice Dragon in awe, "I'm gonna name him Blizzard"

"That's a fitting name, let's celebrate once we get back, and get ready to move to floor 19, I bought a place there for us" he raised his eyebrows in surprise, "but… I'm now broke" Dusk sighed, as the Ice Dragon Blizzard flew onto his shoulder, and we began walking to the main village of the town for the teleport gate.

* * *

 **Yeah… this was a major development chapter for Dusk, or as he is now known; "The Alpha" Next chapter or two will be character development for Draxen, then we get back to canon story**.


	6. The Royal Wolven Cloak

March 2nd 2023 Floor 24

Time passed since Dusk had gotten the cloak and Blizzard. As a matter of fact, due to recent events, Dusk had stopped working on the frontlines and for them, he was now the assault teams main blacksmith, and boy did he make some Col, last time I spoke to him he said he had over 3 million Col!

My gear changed a bit, I wore a violet coat with a white trim, I had it custom tailored… with the strength of some gear I found, my sword was now at +16, giving it about 460-490 damage, and it now did chance paralysis as an effect. I also wore a purple fedora with a white trim as well... yeah violet and white are my favorite colors...the hat was called, 'Cap of the Nova'. In addition to that, I picked up some knives, one for damage, and one poison, nobody knew about them, they were my secret weapons, I had also become level 38, Dusk being at level 35.

I also...created, I guess? My own skill - Twister, It was not my strongest attack, but it could be devastating, I would lunge for and use a stunning skill, then use my Twister to repeatedly slash them, I normally had a minimum of 10 slashes, dealing about 3000 damage, since I sneak my knife into those slashes (5 slashes each), my Whirlwind Slash could do up to 7000 damage normally, as a comparison, but it became my main skill.

Nowadays though...I didn't participate as much on the front-lines… I mean, boss raids, I would always help. I've done every floor along with Kirito, and some floors with Dusk,but I do not do floor clearing anymore, I have another job, which Asuna pays me for…

I became a bounty hunter, one of the most dangerous in Aincrad.

* * *

Right now I was working with Dusk and Aero, my bounty hunter partner, she was the one that got me to become a bounty hunter, after a little 'test'. She had blue hair that fell to her shoulder blades, and green eyes that constantly reminded of jade, she was level 38 as well. Dusk finally decided to put his cloak, (Royal Wolven Coat) to the test, after several weeks of putting it off, he also wanted to train with Blizzard a bit. He joined with Aero and I when I said we were going on a dungeon clearing for fun.

"Hrm!" Dusk grunted as he slashed a gargoyle, and easily dodging its counter attack, we all agreed to let Dusk to the main work as he still needed to level. I watched as Blizzard came down and shot a beam of sky blue ice at the gargoyle, doing about an eighth of its health, Dusk swiftly finished it with a slash of his blue sword, which was called Arctic Slicer, and dealt about 390-420 damage.

I saw Dusk get the level up screen, showing he got to level 36. "Nice kill Dusk" Aero congratulated him, he just grunted, causing Aero to pout, "Hey, I'm just trying to be nice!" I put my arm around her loosely, "Nah, that's just Dusk, he ain't really the social type, that grunt was one of thanks" Aero turned to look at me incredulously, "You can tell?!" I laughed, "Yeah, we're best friends IRL, and he acts just like this in the real world" I paused, "Unless his friends are in danger, in that case, you've signed a death wish"

Aero turned to look at Dusk, "So he's the strong, silent and loyal type?" I nodded, "Yeah, pretty much, I noticed her smirk and she turned to me, "And you're the playful, annoying, and mischievous type?" I took my arm off from around her and fake pouted, "Hey, two of those were right, that second one was unnecessary!"

"Hey lovebirds! Stop flirting and help me clear this dungeon!" Dusk yelled back at us, both and Aero and I blushed heavily. "We're coming Dusk!" I shouted, gripping my weapon and sprinting up, Aero mimicking my movements. Dusk used a sword skill to off balance the new gargoyle, "Aero! Switch!" Aero jumped in with her spear, and began to impale the enemy swiftly. Blizzard went to Dusk's side and dusted him with snow, I almost questioned this until I saw Dusk's HP rise about 10%.

Aero finished the enemy quite quickly, out of all of us she has the highest attack. Probably her weapon, because my STR is higher than hers, but she does have higher VIT than me...then again, I'm almost a glass cannon. Yeah… I'm trying to raise my VIT to fix that...

"Draxen! Snap out of it!" Aero shouts, snapping her fingers in my face. I quickly shake my head, "Sorry, just thinking about something" Aero gives me a funny look, "About what?" her voice becomes stern "You shouldn't be thinking so hard when fighting" I sigh, "I know, but I can't help it if I get lost in thought"

"Then put a map in your head so you don't get lost" Dusk said, in an attempt to make a joke. No one was amused, unless you count me snickering when Blizzard sneezed from its perch on Dusk's shoulder. "C'mon Dusk, wolf enemies should be up ahead" Aero states, "let's test out that cloak" Dusk and I nod at this, and I watch Dusk equip the (Royal Wolven Coat). "Damn, that is a pretty fine cloak, I see that it's been enhanced too" Aero stated. Dusk nods at her statement, "Yeah, I had it enhanced. It's probably more durable than most armors by now".

I hear a howl in the distance. "Hey, I think we have our wolves…" I called out to them. I heard their footsteps grow louder fast as they ran to catch up to me. As we turned a corner in the dungeon, we saw four large (Wolf Guardians). "Well Dusk, let's see if that cloak can do what it's rumored to do" Aero turned to Dusk, who nodded.

Aero and I hung back near the corner, weapons drawn incase things went south, Dusk also left Blizzard with us. I watched as Dusk calmly walked towards the (Wolf Guardians) and the next minute my jaw probably dropped to Floor 1. The (Wolf Guardians) charged… and began licking him affectionately. Aero had a similar reaction to me - stuck in a stupor.

"Wha- I understand that Wolf type monsters shouldn't aggro on him, but this?!" Aero nearly shouted. In my stupor I saw Dusk think, then said something, I couldn't hear what. But I did see the wolves sit down. I saw him say something else, and the wolves lied down. I then realized that wolves now obeyed his commands without questions!

"Okay, so now they even obey his every command?!" Aero and I nearly shouted simultaneously. Dusk calmly walked back to us, the (Wolf Guardians), wait… they changed!? I looked again and almost passed out, (Guard Wolves - Owner:Dusk).

"..." Aero and I just stared, if I could think I'd be pretty sure we both stopped functioning. Dusk's cloak was WAY to OP against wolves. "You two alright?" Dusk asked us. NO we are NOT! I wanted to say, but all that came out was, "N...wha?...err...uhhh" though Aero, somehow, had managed to collect herself apparently, "That cloak...is just not right…"

That managed to knock me out of my stupor, "Y-yeah I guess" I stuttered out, "he did nearly solo a boss because I was useless in that fight…" Aero turned to me, "When are you not useless?" she smirked, I growled, playfully, "Why you- how many times have I saved your arse, if anyone's useless here it's you!"

"And how many times have you nearly blown the mission?" she raised and eyebrow, a mischievous. "That was ONE TIME Aero, ONE TIME!" Suddenly I was hit in the head, Aero too. We turned to Dusk who was now definitely pissed, "Could you two save the romantic fights for later? And NOT do them in front of me!?" Both of us hesitated. I was in a mood to stay alive so I decided to shut my mouth, Aero did the same. There's nothing I fear more than an angry Dusk…

We teleported back to floor 20, I had rented a room in one of the inns, as well as Dusk, since we had to move shop to keep up with the Assault team. "Night!" I waved to Aero as I made my way to my Inn, Dusk in front of me. I saw her wave back and run to her inn.

I walk/ran up to Dusk, as soon as I did I regretted it. He nudged me with his elbow, I turned and saw a teasing smirk on his face, "You've so fallen head over heels for her" I know went red at that, "N-No I haven't! She's just a good par- I mean friend!" I knew if I said 'partner' Dusk would berate me heavily.

"Is that so? Should I tell you every single moment I saw between you two during the dungeon?" Dusk teased. Great. I had a feeling this was going to be a long night.


	7. Morals Broken

**March 29, 2023 Floor 26**

"How many places could this guy hide?" Aero groaned as we searched for Gorhon, a criminal with charges of theft, murder, and sexual harassment. "I have no idea, but according to my research on this floor, there is only one plausible place left" I told her, "the old temple south west of town, It used to be a high level Dungeon, which is why I wanted to check there last"

Aero glared at me, "You do realize that dungeons are an _obvious_ place to hide right?" I sighed, " I do, even if I've only been a bounty hunter for two months, I've gotten the hang of this" "No you-" I covered her mouth with my hand, make her pissed, and made a 'shh' gesture, pointing at the temple, which we finally came across. Thankfully she forgot about being pissed at me...that girl can get scary sometimes, she earned her title well - Nightmare. It doesn't help that she's dressed in a black leather jacket with grey armor underneath, as well as black leggings, and was a master with a spear.

"Alright, let's go" she whispered, as we made our way over to the temple stealthily, and this time, unlike everywhere else, we saw two guards. I looked over to Aero and nodded, after partnering up with me for two months, we develop a sort of code, what I told her was to throw paralysis daggers at them, and that she did with silent grace, hitting the guards dead on. I watched with mild humor as they slumped down, unable to move.

We silently stepped over the guards, and into the temple, sure enough, there were about 6 men, and then there was Gorhon, all either orange or red, no green players at all. Gorhon himself was a red player, proof of his kills. They didn't see us because Aero and I's hiding skill was maxed out, and we were also behind pillars. "Here's the plan" Aero begins to whisper to me, "You lure the six guards out here, then I'll knock them out and tie them up" I nodded, "Then let me guess, with Gorhon, I take him out and teleport him to the jail?" She nodded.

"Let's do this" I muttered, and walked out from behind the pillar I was hiding behind. "Boss! Intruder!" I saw one of them yell to Gorhon. Gorhon was one ugly bastard, and grinned ferally, "Deal with him, and his friend behind the pillar" my eyes widened, _how did he know?_

I saw them charge me, and I had no choice but to fight them off, Aero came out to fight as well, her cover blown anyway. Yeah, there goes that plan… Our goal was to bring them to the prison, so we had to hold back. I was probably about ten levels above everyone besides Gorhon and Aero, so it was really easy to dodge, and even if they hit it didn't do all that much, I also started upping my defense stats, thank God I did.

I saw a spear head straight for my chest, and swiftly dodged to the right, flipped my grip, and slashed at him, only to have a dagger slash my back. I turned immediately and bashed the perpetrator away from me with my pommel, I reversed my grip back to Zatoichi Style, backing away into a wall, to stop them from attacking my back. I was getting tired of this, my HP was almost in the yellow zone, and Aero's _was_ in the yellow zone, suddenly I heard Aero yelp as she was knocked out, and saw her body crumple to the floor, and was being mercilessly attacked by Gorhon and two of his men.

My vision went red.

* * *

I stood, panting, gripping my sword in rage, and shame, Aero was beginning to stir behind me, thankfully she was safe now, there was no one here besides us. Both our HP were in the red. "Dra...xen?" she muttered. I instantly dropped my sword, turned, and knelt down next to her lying body, as she tried to push herself up, I helped her get into a sitting position, then hugged her fiercely, tears of terror beginning to leak from my eyes.

"What's…wrong Draxen?" she asked me, still groggy, "You...you almost died, Gorhon knocked you out and brutally attacked you…" I cried into her shoulder, she returned the hug and whispered, "Thanks for saving me…" then she realized something, "Wait, where is Gorhan and his men?" I reluctantly let go, though I tried not to let it show, and stood away from her, it was then she saw it.

My cursor was orange. That's right. I killed them, all seven of them, I was horrified at myself. It doesn't matter why I killed, but I actually killed them…

"When I saw you get knocked out by Gorhon, and when they started beating on you…I snapped, I'm not sure how I killed them, don't want to either, I just remember coming back to my senses in front of you…" I explained, tears silently streaming down my face, "I don't blame you if you hate me, I know-" I was cut off when Aero hugged me, "I could never hate you Draxen" she whispered to me.

I burrowed my face into her shoulder, crying, still trying to get over the shock of what I did, Aero soothed me and was rubbing circles on my back. Once I had recovered, I lifted my head and told Aero what I was thinking, "Aero?" I muttered, "Yeah?" "I'm gonna go on a break, at least until my cursor becomes green again, could you please tell Asuna about this?" she pulled her head back so I could see it clearly and nodded.

"I'll be staying with Dusk as usual, just so you know" I told her, she nodded, we let go of each other and silently exited the ruins, I saw Aero teleport to floor 23, where Asuna was I guessed. I teleported to floor 25 where Dusk decided to set up shop for now, as it was filled with ores and materials. As normal, we lived together.

Luckily it was night, so I swiftly went to my house undetected, hoping no one saw my orange cursor, I didn't want to be asked questions. Thankfully Dusk was alone in the shop, working on sorting materials, I silently went to my room and collapsed on my bed, crying to myself, still horrified with what I did. Dusk apparently heard me and opened my door, and upon seeing me in my crying state, he immediately asked the question, "Draxen, what happened?" I silently pointed to my cursor, he looked and gasped, "What happened?"

I told him the story of how I killed those seven players. I saw Dusk go silent for a moment, then I saw him open his menu and type a message to someone. He sat down beside me, "Hey, you did what you had to" Dusk said softly, surprising me since he is normally very rigid, "From what it sounds like you had no choice, and I know you couldn't let Aero just die" I nodded, "But still…" Before I could finish I got a message. It was from Asuna:

 _Hey, I heard what happened from Aero. I hope you're able to get over it, I know it can't be easy. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone else, and I don't hate you, I could never hate you after everything you've done for me._

 _-Asuna_

I smiled ever so slightly. I was glad Asuna didn't hate me, before I could think any more on the subject, my door opened again, Dusk and I turned and saw Kirito, "Hey, Dusk told me what happened Draxen" I nodded, "It's...fine, I appreciate you coming over to comfort me on this…" The rest of the night, Dusk and Kirito stayed by my side, helping me get over what happened. After some talking with them to get my mind off of it, I began to get tired. When I told them this, they nodded and left the room. I managed to get to sleep peacefully that night, instead of crying to sleep like I expected.


	8. Moonlit Black Cats

**April 8th 2023 Floor 26**

I was pacing in my room, I was back to being a green player, so I went outside every once in a while, but I knew I was going to be scarred the rest of my life. I decided to talk to Argo about Zatoichi Style, recently we found out that it was _not_ a unique skill but a _hidden_ skill, meaning the prerequisites to get the skill are not on the info broker, it's actually simple to get, you just have to reverse your grip on your sword, kill an enemy like that, and it just appears. I experimented this with some random players, and sure enough, it worked, however, they couldn't copy my twister skill, since I created it without the system assisting me.

I decided to go to the pub on floor 20, it was the best one in my opinion. I needed a drink, I was turning 17 in about two months, and even so, it's a game, it doesn't matter.

"(Sigh) I wonder how Aero's doing?" I muttered to myself on my way to the teleport gate. "Pretty good, you?" I jumped a mile high before I turned to see my green-eyed spear wielding partner doubled over at my reaction. "Holy Hell! Dear God!" I exclaim, holding my chest with my right hand and panting, "S-sorry, i-it was t-too funny!" she stuttered out in between laughs, I sighed. _One of these days I might die from an in-game heart attack because of her!_

"You going to the pub?" she asked once she got over her laugh fest, I nodded, "Yeah, you wanna come buy a drink with me?" she nods. So we walked towards the teleport gate together, simply chatting about how things were doing. Ever since I was publicly made a bounty hunter, overall crime rate had significantly decreased, instead of getting missions about four times a week, it became about once a week.

"Teleport: Yurna!" we commanded once we reached the teleport gate. After a flash of blue we were we commanded to go. As we walked towards the pub, I noticed Aero seemed a bit…fidgety. "You alright Aero?" I asked her concerned, "Yeah, I just don't drink much" I raised an eyebrow at this, "Then why are you coming with me?". She pouted, "What? I said 'much', I do drink sometimes, and you make it sound like you don't enjoy my company!"

I furiously waved my hands in front of my chest, "I-I didn't mean it like that! I enjoy your company!" realizing what I said I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. Aero went red at my statement as well. "Well well well if it ain't the lovebirds?" a voice taunted from behind us. We both groaned, Dusk had been teasing us about that for the past month, except for when... _that_ happened. Just thinking about still makes me disgusted with myself.

"What is it Dusk?" Aero asked him annoyed, not even bothering to turn around to face him. "What? Can I not see my friends?" he asked cheekily, Blizzard cooing in agreement. I sighed, "Dusk, you and I see each other everyday, and Aero often drops by at least once a day"

Dusk chuckled, "Alright you got me, I'll leave you two alone" I silently cheered in my head, "for today" he added with a smirk, before walking away. Needless to say my internal cheering stopped.

Aero and I shook our heads at Dusk's comment, and went inside the pub. When we opened the doors however, I was given a most surprising sight, Kirito looked like he was in a guild! Aero noticed my expression, "What is it?" "I'm not sure, could you wait for me?" I requested, she nodded.

I walked over to Kirito and put my hand on the back of his chair, "Hey Kirito! How's it going?" I greeted. He jumped, obviously not expecting me, "Oh! Hey Draxen!" he replied back, but somewhat nervous. _I wonder why…_

"Kirito you know him?" a man with brown hair and eyes spoke, he looked to be a tad bit taller than me… "Yeah, we were partners during the first floor boss raid" I raised an eyebrow at this, but said nothing.

"Did you know that he's been a solo player this whole time? And he got up this far and he's only level 20 like us!" a shorter boy with tufts of yellow hair under a black beanie. Now I understood what was going on, Kirito didn't believe he would be accepted if he told them his true level, which was level 40. "Really? That is quite impressive" I lied, letting Kirito slide this time, but I will be talking to him later.

"Hey, what level are you? You seem pretty powerful!" a boy my height asks, he has brown hair and green eyes, and is wearing some kind of hat. "Level 40, I work with the assault teams as a bounty hunter as well as help in the boss raids" they all awed at him. "Woah, Kirito, you're friends with an Assault team member?!" the weird hat weared asked. Kirito nodded.

"Hey, you mind if I borrow Kirito for a moment?" I asked them, they nodded and the brown haired man said, "Yeah, it's fine, you two would want to catch up" I bowed, "Thanks for understanding. I took Kirito by the shoulder and took him over to Aero, who was by the bar, and I explained what was going on.

"So Kirito, tell us about them" Aero asked, Kirito nodded, and explained how he met the guild, Moonlit Black Cats, and when he saved one of their guild members, he saw how they acted like family, and he wanted to feel some of that himself. Aero and I nodded in understanding.

"Alright, but if anything goes wrong, tell me in a heartbeat alright?" Kirito looked like he was about of protest, but I cut him off, "You helped me at my darkest hour, without even thinking about it, and for that I am eternally grateful, and I hope to someday repay such a debt, so please, contact me if something goes wrong okay?" I told him firmly, grasping his shoulders. After a moment Kirito nodded, I smiled and let him go, but not before patting his shoulder, "Good, now go join them"

He nodded gratefully and went back over to them, and Aero and I enjoyed our drinks.

* * *

 **June 22nd, 2023**

I was on my way back to Dusk from a grinding session, I had gotten to level 50 at last. I suddenly got a message, I opened it and I was immediately filled with dread. I quickly went straight towards the teleport gate to go and find him before something bad happens, or maybe I should say, before something _worse_ happens.

 _Sachi and the others are dead, Keito killed himself when I told him. It's all my fault…_

 _-Kirito_

* * *

 **And that's chapter 8! Have no fear, this will continue on in chapter 9!**


	9. Christmas

**August 19th, 2023**

It has almost been two months since the Moonlit Black Cats guild was slaughtered. Kirito was… not doing well. Just being near him, I could feel the guilt radiate from him, I may have killed 7 people, but I was protecting someone. He felt like he failed to protect the only ones to have ever taken him in. He believed _he_ killed them. I hardly even saw him now, he was always powerleveling, I suppose he wanted to avenge them by defeating this game?...

* * *

 **December 19th, 2023 - Floor 27**

"An event boss?" Aero asked for clarification, I nodded, and relayed the information I got from Argo. At midnight, on December 24th, a boss would spawn, and drop a revival item. Aero's eyes widened, "No way…" but that surprise turned to confusion, "No offense, but why are you telling me this?" I sighed, "Argo told me Kirito might try and fight it". Instantly Aero began suggesting we stop Kirito. I raised a hand.

"We could try. But I managed to get a peek at his level" I watched as Aero stopped and raise an eyebrow, and I continued, "We are level 63. He is nearly level 70" Aero's jaw dropped, "He's been powerleveling _that_ much?!" I nodded. Once she managed to pick up her jaw I told her my theory, "I believe that Kirito still feels guilty, and is planning on either dying by the bosses hand, or get the revival item for one of his fallen teammates from Moonlit Black Cats"

Aero falls silent for a minute before speaking, "Then we help him" I widen my eyes at the realization, "Well...uhh…" Aero giggles at my dumbfounded, and I turn red, "Damn it! Why didn't I think of that?!"

"That doesn't matter" Aero waved off once she regained composure, "Should we tell Asuna?" she suggested. I contemplated that for a moment, "We'll tell her, but say we have it under control, as not to worry her" Asuna and I were on great terms with each other, not romantically of course, but we could always trust the other to help in a time of need.

"All right then, I'll message her, you go see if you can talk to Kirito alright?" Aero requested. I nodded, and looked for Kirito using my friend list, I sent him a request after the first floor boss. I saw he was on floor 40, the floor the event boss will spawn. I used the teleport gate and searched for him. Finally I saw him coming back through the town gates, his health was in the yellow. _Another session I presume_.

I walked over to him, "Kirito" I said simply, he turned slowly, and I finally saw how bad the incident made him, his face was tired, and his eyes blank and empty. I swallowed, "I know you're going after the event boss alone. I noticed his stare hardened, I raised my hands in defence, "I'm not going to stop you, nor will Aero, Dusk or anyone else I know" his gaze lightened up on me slightly before he said, "Then what is it" I winced at his tone, it was ice-cold, devoid of feeling.

"I want to help, I won't help you take on the boss, I know you're capable of doing that, but incase people try to ambush or try to get to the revival item first, I want to stop them so you can get through" I explained. He was silent. _Did I say something wrong?_ It was then I noticed a small tear running down his face, "Why?" he muttered, "I don't deserve it, I killed-" I cut him off right there.

"And I killed 7 players in cold blood, I didn't deserve your help, but you did. So I'm repaying the favor whether you like it or not" I stated firmly. He froze, then nodded, "Thank you, for everything Draxen" I smiled, "No problem, see you in five days at the gate" I waved and parted ways with him.

* * *

 **December 24, 2023 - Floor 40**

Aero and I were currently waiting for Kirito. We wanted to be there early, because...well, I'm never on time. Neither IRL nor here...Anyways, I had changed my sword yesterday. Because...it broke...My new sword hung at my right hip, and was pitch black with a violet streak down the middle, Dusk had made it as well, from a chance ore dropped from a miniboss on floor 40. He said it was called, "Lunarizer".

I had also unlocked a new skill. Now, it wasn't anything special, it was knife throwing, but...I had a feeling I would need it later on, so I started working on it. Got it to level 56/1000.

"Lets go" I hear, I come out of memory lane and see Kirito looking at me. I nod, signaling I heard him. "Alright" Aero says, Dusk would've been here, but he got caught up behind orders for Christmas.

Aero and I follow Kirito, weapons at the ready. I sense something and Aero stiffens, "We're being followed" I announce. At that moment, a small guild in red come into view, leading them is a pink haired man wearing a bandanna...Klein?

Sure enough, when Klein sees us, he runs up to us, "Kirito? Draxen? And uhh…" "Aero" she states curtly. "Oh, hey Klein" Kirito mutters. "You three going after the event boss?" he asks, "No, Kirito is" Aero replies, "Draxen and I are to make sure he isn't ambushed…" "Are you insane?! Kirito could die!" Klein cries. We shake our heads, "We tried to tell him that, but he's adamant that he can do it" I tell him, I see Kirito snap his head back in our direction.

Aero tenses. I feel it as well, "AMBUSH!" she cries, Klein and his guild, the Fuurinkazan, ready their weapons along with ours. I watch as an army appears in front of us, silver armor reflecting the moon's rays. Silver armor… "Holy Dragon Alliance" I growl. Aero snarls next to me, "I hate them. They're scumbags who'll do anything to get a rare item"

"Kirito!" Klein calls out, "You beat the boss, we'll handle them!"

Aero shouts at him, "Yeah! We'll be fine, just come back in one piece!"

"If you die, I'll kill you!" I chip in. I watch as Kirito smiles a sad smile, and run off. I turn to face our enemies, "Well, here goes nothing. CHARGE!"

* * *

"Is...is that all of them?" Klein pants. "Y...yeah" Aero manages to get out, she had fallen over after the battle. I managed to stay up, but I was leaning on my sword. We had managed to knock out all...200? HDA members. "Are you all holding up OK?" I ask. I hear grunts and half-effort agreements. "Better than dead" I say.

I hear crunching of snow from behind me, I turn to see Kirito walking towards me...but...something is off.

"Kirito! You're alright!" Klein cheers. Kirito stares blankly at him. I trudge up to him, "It doesn't work...does it?" I ask, referring to the revival item. He slowly shakes his head, then tosses it to me, I examine it. It only worked...for 10 after seconds.

"What's wrong?" Aero asks, struggling to stand up. "10 seconds" is all I say. Everyone's expression drops. "I'm so sorry Kirito" I manage to get out. He says nothing and leaves.

* * *

I was in my house, sitting on my bed. Dusk had requested I move out so he had more space. Aero would often stay over, since she doesn't have a place of her own. I had been considering something but...after tonight's debacle...I don't think it would be a good idea. Suddenly, I got a message from Kirito. "Hey, Aero!" I called, knowing she was in the house.

"Yeah what?" she muttered tiredly. I showed her the message from Kirito. Sachi had left a parting gift to Kirito, that was to be sent on Christmas, and said gift had improved his mood immensely. "Well, all's well that ends well, am I right Draxen?" Aero comments. I nod, "Yeah…"

We were silent for a minute. Aero broke the silence, "Hey...how long have we been working together?" she asks. I take a moment to think, "About nine months, why?" she sat down on the bed beside me, "We've saved each others lives multiple times on jobs" I nod, "We've taken down so many criminals together" I nod, wondering where this was going.

"And yet, I feel something missing, do you understand?" I widened my eyes, was she…? Yeah, she definitely was, "Yeah, I do understand Aero". She turns to face me, "So you know what I'm about to do then?" I smile at her question, "Only if you're going to do what I think you're going to do" I comment, smirking "I think I am" she replies teasingly, leaning in.

Two words: She was.


	10. Meeting Silica

**February 22, 2024**

 _ **DUSK POV!**_

It's been good business, I guess. I just wish people weren't so noisy, always asking questions when I'm trying to work. Grr...just thinking about it annoys me. Doesn't help that ever since Christmas, Violet (Draxen) and Airhead (Aero) had become inseparable. Sure, they started dating, but they did NOT have to go everywhere together with practical hearts in their eyes. God it's so sappy I wanna puke. I'm pretty sure Blizzard feels the same.

"Here" I say, placing a dagger on the counter, "30,000 Col" I price. My client nods and transfers the money, I transfer the blade. I look at the time, 17:34, good. Time to close. I check my materials, wanted to make sure I have enough… Obsilite Ingots...should have enough for the week...Crystalized Steel...have too much of...Yulian Ore...drat, only enough for 1 blade. Floor 50 should have it…

I teleport to floor 50. And the first thing I see… is a large ass crowd. F***** great. I try to make my way around it when I hear a specific shout, "Please! Avenge them! Avenge my guild!" What's this? Avenge their guild? I should look into this.

I make my way to the center of the crowd, to find a man with low HP begging the front line members to help him. I see Kirito begin to talk to him. If Kirito's going for it, I might as well. I go over to the two.

"What's this about avenging?" I ask, the man winced. Probably due to my cold tone, Draxen constantly tells me to try and change it. Like hell. At least Blizzard doesn't mind.

"His guild mates were slain by an orange guild" Kirito explains to me. I clench my fists. Orange guilds are filed with nothing but scumbags and assholes. "Which one?" I inquire with the same tone. Kirito is used to it thankfully, "Titan's Hand, I don't know who leads it though" I smirk, "I think I know someone who might" Kirito snaps his fingers, "Draxen and Aero!" I nod.

The man's eyes widen, "Y-you know the Phantom Twister and Nightmare!?" he exclaims. I notice him begin to inspect my look, "If that's the case, you must be The Alpha!" he cries in joy, "Thank the Lord! I have three of the most powerful players avenging my guild!" he shakes his head to snap out of it. "My apologies, please, take this teleport crystal, it cost me the last of my Col, it will send those bastards to the prison!"

Kirito and I nod, but before he leaves…"Hey" he turns, I open my menu and do a few things, "Here, money is life, if you have no money, you're dead. Stay safe" his eyes widen, "Oh Thank you!" I say nothing and walk towards Kirito, "I messaged Draxen and Aero, they said the leader of Titan's hand is named Rosalia, and was last seen on floor 35" he frowned, "for some reason they didn't sound pleased…"

I chuckled, "Probably because you interrupted them" he raised an eyebrow, did he _actually_ not know? Oh my god…

* * *

 **February 23, 2024 - Floor 35 - Forest of Wandering**

"Draxen mentioned they might be somewhere around here…" Kirito muttered. A tick mark appeared on my head, "Somewhere…" I begin, "Is a HELL of a lot bigger than you think" yeah… I'm frustrated.

I hear a shriek, sounds like it's from a girl, "Kirito! To our left!" Kirito nods and we sprint as fast as we can, Blizzard flying above me, and Kirito being ahead of me. Draxen was the fast one in our duo, so I didn't bother with AGI. By the time I get to the source, I see a young girl crying over something, and four Dread Wolves preparing to finish her, Kirito was about to attack when I raise a hand, "SIT!" I cry. The wolves do so. Damn I love this cloak. Kirito looks at me.

"That's not right" I nod, "No it's not, but I like to argue anyways" we chuckle at my comment. "Heel" I command, and they Dread Wolves, now Guardian Wolves, rush to my side. I see Kirito walk up to her, "Hey, are you alright?" he asks. The young girl cries, "Pina…" Oh God...she's a beast tamer, damn, and losing a familiar is like losing a piece of yourself, where the hell did that pity and sympathy come from?

Now that I can see her clearly, she seems about...5'3", with brown-red eyes, and chestnut hair that looks like a molecule. "You're familiar...she died protecting you, didn't she?" she nodded, and looked at me, when she saw Blizzard she began to tear up again. I put my hand on her shoulder, "See that feather? Its her soul, I know of a revival item for familiars there"

She looks up at me hopefully. Dear God what is it with me? I'm acting like Draxen around his little sister Victoria! Come to think of it she does look similar, but Victoria hates having her black hair done, and has green eyes.

"Really? Thanks!" She said grateful, "Oh, I'm Silica by the way!" I chuckle, "Is that what you're hairstyle is based off of?" she nods. She gains a curious look, "Who are you two?"

"I am Dusk, master blacksmith and-" I see Kirito cut me off. Why the- Oh. I see. If Silica gets hurt because of this he's dead. _WHY AM LIKE THIS SUDDENLY!_

"I am Kirito, and we could go retrieve the item but…" I realize what was wrong, and I finish his sentence, "The beast tamer for the fallen familiar has to be there" Blizzard coos in agreement.

"Well, I'll just train!" I shake my head, "Sorry, you only have three days, and the Hill of Memories, that's where it's at, is on floor 47" I tell her. I realize my wolves are still there, and I desummon them, to prepare for a later date. Silica doesn't mention it.

Kirito opens his menu and transfers a few things to her inventory. "Thanks but, why are you two helping me so much?" Kirito put a hand to his face, "I'll tell you, but can you promise not to laugh?" Silica nods, I, on the other hand, "I don't like to break promises, sorry" Kirito sighs.

"It's because...you look like my little sister" I smirk slightly. Silica pauses before breaking into a fit of giggles. She turns to me, and asks the same question, I rub the back of my neck, knowing this is gonna feel redundant.

"Erm...I know we just met but...you feel like a little sister to me...alright?" She looks surprised, but smiles at me, Kirito just stares at me wide-eyes, "No way, Dusk shows emotions! I must tell Draxen right away!" I sigh as he actually messages Draxen.

I turn to Silica, "Well then, we should get going to an inn" she smiles and nods, "All right nii-chan!" Blizzard chirps, at the new name I was given, but I smiled and took it in stride. Silica, of course will probably be the only one to see this side of me.

* * *

 **DUSK WILL NOT BE PAIRED WITH SILICA! JUST SO YOU KNOW!**


	11. Past and Present

**February 23, 2024 - (STILL DUSK POV)**

Kirito, Silica, and I were trying to find an inn in the town on Floor 35. We had a run-in with Silica's old partners. One growl and they were gone.

"Thank you two so much! Hey! I know a tavern that sells the greatest cheesecake! Maybe we should try it!" Normally, I'd refuse such an offer, but I didn't for two reasons. 1, Silica asked, 2, I hate to admit it, but I got a soft spot for cheesecake.

Kirito nods at the offer, as do I, "Cheesecake you say? Why not?" Kirito gives me a funny look. "What? He raises an eyebrow, Silica just curiously watching the exchange. "Yo-" "What do we have here?" a voice cuts him off before he could speak, I turn to see our target. Rosalia.

"Did this girl seduce _another_ player, dear God" Kirito shook his head, but I smirked, "Well, she could do it better than you hag!" Silica's eyes widened, Kirito had a hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh, Rosalia just stood there flabbergasted. "Hey Kirito, cover Silica's ears" I whisper to him.

She shook herself back to reality, "You may regr-" I cut her off, I don't regret anything, "Look bitch, there is no word in the dictionary to describe how _little_ I care" I decide to finish this off with a bang, "So go back to your night job at the brothel. Okay?" I turn, knowing my work here was done, "C'mon Kirito, Silica, let's get ready to get that Pneuma Flower tomorrow!"

Silica follows wordlessly, apparently still shocked at what my words could have been to make Rosalia so angry with me. Kirito followed laughing his arse off after roasting a now overdone Rosalia, along with Blizzard who was chirping rhythmically.

* * *

Kirito and I were in our room at the inn. Kirito was checking his status on the menu, while I lay content on my bed. _Damn...that was some good cheesecake_ _ **.**_ Yeah, cheesecake does that to me. "Hey, Dusk?" I sigh at Kirito's voice, "What is it?" I groan.

"We need to explain some things to Silica about the Hill of Memories" he tells me formally. "Yeah sure, man I wish there was a console so Draxen could hack it" I meant to think that last part but I said it aloud instead.

"What do you mean? Draxen can hack?" Great, now I had to explain Draxen's secret job. "Err...I don't like keeping secrets, and since I let a part of it slip...I'm gonna go ahead and tell you" Kirito raised an eyebrow, but stayed silent, "Draxen works for the government. He's a hacker, quite skilled at it too"

"Woah really?" I nod. "Don't tell him I told you, or spread it around. That's top secret info" Kirito nods, "Alright. I won't, now, let's go talk to Silica"

We headed over to her room. (it was right next to ours) When Kirito knocked on the door, I heard eager footsteps, "You can come…" she trailed off. Kirito and I waited, wondering what happened, a few seconds later she opened the door, really red in the face. Oh my God, did she nearly open the door in her undergarments? I heard Blizzard coo from her spot on my right shoulder, she was small enough to be able to perch their, as well as curl up and sleep on my shoulder.

Kirito move the table over, and began to explain somethings to Silica, I was not really paying attention. I got a message, it was from Draxen. Weird, he doesn't message me so late.

 _-Dusk_

 _During my latest mission, I got a strange amulet. It's called "Amethyst Charm of the Ghost" it gives me a unique ability called 'Phase'. I tested it out with Aero. I can pass through objects and attacks do not harm me, unless their sword skills. I'm gonna try to not use it often. Please tell no one except Kirito. BTW, have you found them yet?_

 _-Draxen_

I was intrigued, I should ask- what was that? I rush and slam the door open, "WHO'S THERE!" I roar. I watched as a figure retreated down the hall. I felt Blizzard use a tracking skill on them, I checked my map and saw where they were going. "Good job Blizzard" I praise, scratching her under her cold chin.

"Wha? Players can't listen through closed doors! They have to knock!" Silica exclaimed, scared. "Not if there listening skill is high enough" Kirito explains. I scowl as I shut the door and go back to where I was sitting. Before I began to speak to Silica I let up on my scowl, "Yeah, it's quite a hassle really, why can't people mind their own d-" I remember Silica is most likely 14, given her height, "darn business!"

"I wish people did too Nii-chan" Blizzard chirped her agreement to Silica's wish.

* * *

 **February 24, 2024**

Kirito, Silica, and I were leaving the inn and towards the teleport gate, I had sent a message to Draxen in response, and told Kirito about Draxen's amulet. He suggested that it might be a rare item called a Skill Gear. He had heard about them in Beta's and they're really rare. Draxen had apparently gotten his after defeating a Mini-boss called, (Wraith Lord), in order to get too a group of red and orange players.

When we warp to floor 47, I see a field of flowers. And _way_ too many couples. I bet Draxen and Aero have been- I see a man in a violet long coat and woman with a black battle dress and a spear sheathed on her back. Go figure. I look over to see Silica smelling flowers and Kirito explaining this floor. I leave for a second, walking to the duo mentioned beforehand.

"Hey lovebirds, figured I'd find you here" I tease, I laugh as the two jump, "Damn it Dusk, what is it?" Aero asks, "I need a favor" I tell them my plan. They nod and agree to it. I rush back over to Kirito and Silica. Once I was back with them, we trekked to the Hill of memories.

"So, you said I look like your little sister...what is she like Kirito?" I turn to see Kirito rub the back of his head. Most players don't talk about things IRL. "Well...she isn't really my sister, but my cousin, her parents took me in when my parents died" Kirito explained, I flinched. My mother died in the military, and my father was gone before I was born. I lived in my own apartment, Draxen helped buy it for me, being a government agent makes money.

"Oh, that's sad that your parents died" Silica comforted, Kirito waved it off, "It's fine, but...ever since I found out we weren't siblings...I kinda drifted away, she probably hates me..." Silica asks him what made him think that, "Well...my grandfather made us do kendo-" Man, mention any kind of sword fighting to Draxen, and he's all over it, even IRL Draxen practiced swordplay, he was an athlete on top of being an agent. He had it all...well...except for a bit of sanity.

"-and when I tried to quit, he beat me" I winced, "My sister stopped him, claiming she would double her training, to train for the both of us, since I wouldn't do it" Silica awed at his story.

"I don't think she hates you" I state. Both turn to me, "If she hated you she wouldn't have done anything, I know enough how siblings act by being with Xander and Victoria" both raise an eyebrow.

"Who's Xander and Victoria?" they both ask. I blanch at what I just did, "Erm...sorry, Xander is Draxen's name IRL, and Victoria is his sister" They both 'ohh' in realization.

"C'mon, I see the Pneuma Flower" I say, changing the topic.

* * *

We were making small talk on the way back, we had reached a bridge when Kirito stopped, "Come out, I know you're there". A woman with red hair steps out from behind the tree, "Wow, you're detection skill is pretty high, to see through my hiding skill" she sees Silica and I, "Oh, and you got the Pneuma Flower, con-" I was tired of this damn charade.

"Shut it Rosalia" I snap, she glares at me, "I was trying to congratulate Silica" she says innocently. I laugh, stepping in front of Kirito, "Uh-huh, then kill us and take our stuff? Rosalia?". Kirito decides to put the cherry on top, "Or should we say, leader of the orange guild, Titan's Hand?"

I see Rosalia blanch at our claim, but she quickly recovered, "If you know our secret, then I guess I'll have to kill you" she states, I see Silica bega to cower. This bitch scared her. Well, This bitch is about to be in prison.

I watch as she snaps her fingers. 6 armed orange players come out from behind the trees. "You know the drill, kill them!" she orders, but they hesitate as Kirito and I walked forward, Kirito drawing his shoulder, I drawing my two handed longsword as Blizzard jumps from her perch and gets ready.

I see some of the orange players begin to mutter. Then a cry breaks out, "Holy shit, that's the Kirito the Black Swordsman!" "Lord have Mercy, that means the guy next to him is Dusk, also known as The Alpha!" "There both front line members!"

"Please! What would frontline members be doing down here?" Rosalia scoffs.

"Oh, so you want proof?" I taunt, I bring two fingers to my mouth and I whistle. I watch with satisfaction as my army of about 25 wolves came into existence in poof of grey smoke, creating a semicircle around the orange guild.

Cries of fear begin to come from the small group. But apparently Rosebitchia was stupid, "Kill them, they're just beasts! You're all level 45 or more" And they attack, or at least try to, I snap my fingers.

My loyal wolves began their attack, not killing them, but dealing quite a bit of damage. I snapped my fingers when I felt that the damage had been done. All but Rosalia had fallen into the red zone.

"Y-You can't hurt me, I'm green and if you hurt me I'll-" "A quantum supercomputer, calculating for a thousand years, could not even _approach_ the number of fucks, I do not give" I spat. I saw Kirito cover Silica's ears before I swore. I commanded Blizzard to freeze Rosalia before she could run. God I love Blizzard, I scratched her favorite spot as she cooed.

I saw the other members get up, it appeared they have recovered, "You... still can't handle all of us...you two are...alone" one gets out. I give them a questioning stare, how can you fight if you're paralyzed?" I ask, everyone looks at me funny, until the Titan's Hand members shudder, before collapsing to the ground, paralyzed.

"Thing is…" A male voice begins.

"They're not alone" a female voice finishes. I watch with satisfaction as Draxen and Aero come out of their hiding spots. "About time" I smirk.

* * *

 **WHEW! That was a long one. But by far the most progressive, as well as my favorite.**


	12. Enter: Maria the Amulet

**February 24, 2024 (Draxen POV)**

"Thanks" Dusk spoke curtly with a nod, as he and Kirito gathered up the criminals. "No problem" Aero said winking and giving a thumbs up, "Yeah, it was nothing! Besides, I still owe you from that Fenrir incident"

"Hmph" Dusk muttered as he finished tying up the orange players, Kirito nodded at him, "I got it from here" he said as he pulled a teleport crystal from his long coat, and took the criminals, along with Rosalia, to the prison.

" _Well that's quite rude…"_ Maria says. Oh yeah… you remember that amulet I told Dusk about in chapter 11? Yeah...it calls 'herself' Maria, and is an NPC, wait… what's that author? Quit breaking the fourth wall? Oh. Yeah. Sorry, on with the story!

"Wh-who are they Dusk?" I hear a timid voice say, I look at the bridge and see a younger girl looking straight at me. Dusk waved his hand, "It's fine Silica, they're friends of mine" Silica immediately went over to Dusk. I raised an eyebrow, "Silica right? I'm Draxen, a bounty hunter" I bow.

"And I'm Aero, Draxen's partner" Aero bows as well, seeing as she has jeans, not a skirt. Dusk smirks, "Partner in more ways than one…" I slap him, "NO!" I shout, my face heating up with Aero's. Dusk just laughs, while Silica has a questioning look.

"Well...see you in three days Dusk" I say as we part ways, Aero and I towards our homes, and Silica and Dusk to their inns.

* * *

 **February 27, 2024 Floor 57**

"We lure it into town...let it get distracted by the NPC's. That's how we get the boss" Asuna stated, slamming her fist on the floor map.

" _Hey! Some of those NPC's you're willing to kill were my friends!_ Maria whined in my head. "I'll try to talk them out of it, I don't like it either…" I reply quietly, after all, only I can hear Maria. I move forward to say my idea, but somebody beats me too it.

"You can't just do that!" A voice shouts, oh, go figure it's Kirito.

"Agreed. Highly illogical and foolish" a harsh voice easily identifiable as Dusk's rang clear. I decide to keep my distance for now.

"So what?" Asuna challenges the two, "They're just NPC's, unlike us, they can respawn" she growls. Kirito shakes his head, "It just feels wrong." "Again, agreed, I may hate most of you, but even I won't waste a man's life for an idiotic plan such as this!" Dusk growls back at Asuna.

Said girl clenches her fist, "Don't forget, I'm the second-in-command of this battle, we'll do things my way!" " _Rude!"_ Maria comments, "Quiet!" I whisper yell to myself, getting some odd glances from the people next to me.

"That may be so Asuna, but if we don't agree to this, what good is a second-in command of an army of none?" several people _oooohhh_ at this, of course, leave it to Dusk to roast some sense into people.

After quickly shushing Maria I decide to step in, "You may be second-in-command, but even I won't go through with this" I begin, I feel her glare at me, if her looks could kill, she'd be an orange player now.

That reminds me, Aero would have been here, but she was working with a blacksmith...Lisbeth I think? Anyways it was one of her friends IRL, I didn't question it.

"If we go through with this, yes, maybe we win, but we'd get hooked to this tactic…" I resume, trailing off, wondering if anyone gets where I'm going. Only Dusk nods his head, figures, he could read me like a book.

"Where are you going with this Draxen?" Asuna asks pointedly. I sigh, "once we get hooked in this tactic, how long will it take before we use _each other_ as bait?" Everyone gasps at my claim, and Asuna gives me the death stare once more. "I agree with Draxen" Dusk's harsh voice rings through the cavern, "As do I" Kirito pipes up, "so, I'm sorry Asuna...but if you continue with this plan, you'll lose three of your men in this battle"

She grits her teeth, but thankfully we work on a new plan. _Thanks Xander!_ Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah ,woah, woooah, woah. How does she know my real name!? I ask her this, _Easy! I read your player data! I then traced it back towards your NerveGear headset and found your profile!_ She tells me cheerfully. " _Not Creepy at all…"_ I tell the seven year old girl act-alike in my head. Aero doesn't believe me with Maria's voice in my head...says its stress, I don't blame her.

I walk out of the cave to find Kirito talking with Agil, good man in my opinion, owns an item shop on floor 50.

"...you and Asuna are getting into it, and not in a good way" Agil chuckles. I hear Kirito sigh, "Yeah, I guess, just can't believe that the girl who didn't know how to do anything at the start took my advice, and became a part of the largest frontline guilds, and be a floor clearing badass"

"I'm with you on that one Kirito" I say, walking over. The two smile at me, "Hey Draxen!" Agil greets in his usual deep voice, "How's it been the last three days?" Kirito asks politely. I shrug, "Pretty good I guess, not many missions to do, besides taking care of that Rosalia, from what I heard, Dusk went on a roast fest with her?" Agil looks at Kirito questioningly as he breaks down into laughter, "Oh you have no idea…"

He told me and Agil the story of what happened between Dusk and Rosalia. When he was done, both of us were doubled over laughing along with Kirito. "I can totally see Dusk doing that though!" I manage to get out. Eventually, we stop laughing and go our separate ways.

* * *

On my way back to my inn, I have yet to buy a house...even though Dusk gave me a portion of his profits for bringing him materials, combined that with my profits as a bounty hunter.

"So Maria...what else do you know about me then?" I ask my amulet, " _Oh, many things! Like how you're a low-level government agent, that gets paid for aiding in hacking or hacking prevention!"_ My eyes widen in surprise...that wasn't on my NerveGear! "Umm...how did you access that?" " _I can access the net!"_ "Wait...what?!" I feel a mental nod in the back of my head, "Umm...can you tell me where my body is?" she goes silent for a few minutes.

" _Umm...I think Saitama Hospital? Yeah that's what it says, in room 4038"_ she replies seeming uncertain at first, before having a tone of certainty. "Do...you think you could send my family a sign? Or something at least?" " _Sorry…no…"_ I sigh, before coming to stop at a tree, I sent a message to Aero where I was.

"Dammit, sorry, I was just hoping I could tell my sister how I was doing" " _You mean Victoria Yuurikuta?"_ I nod, " _What about your parents?"_ I scowl at that, "My parents? Hah! They couldn't care less!" I feel a questioning gaze in my head, " _Why is that?"_ I sigh.

"My parents may be nice...but...they are very...controlling" " _How so?"_ I think for a minute on how to describe their actions, "They do nice things, let me have a nice social life...but as soon I want to do something _alone_ they restrain me, they won't let me out of their sight unless I'm in the house" " _But why wouldn't they care?"_ "Because as soon as they lose interest of something, they get rid of it. I've seen it with some of my hobbies or my sister's, they try to erase it from our lives"

" _Ohh…"_ "So anythi-" "Who are you speaking to Draxen?" A voice cuts me off, I freeze and turn. Kirito is standing a few feet away from me, leaning his back on the tree. "Ermm...personal thing...sorry" he waves his hand, "It's cool, I understand."

I let out a breath that I didn't even realize I was holding. "Thanks, what're you doing here?" Kirito shrugs as he begins to lie down on the grass, closing his eyes,"One of the best spots to relax in my opinion, and the weather settings are optimal today." I take a moment to feel the environment, he was right, it did feel more pleasant out today.

"Huh...you're right" Kirito chuckles at my, probably, dumbfounded face. "Well, I won't deny that I'm tired, mind if I catch some Z's here too?" Kirito shook his head. I lie down and begin to feel the grip of sleep tighten quickly, and pull me into slumber.

* * *

I wake up and stretch. _Damn...that was a good nap!_ I think to myself. " _I would say so! You nearly slept 6 hours!"_ I sigh and turn to ask Kirito if he knew a good place to eat. What I got was a surprise called Asuna sleeping a little to the right of Kirito. I decide to wait for the two of them, as well as keep an eye on them. Sleep PK's have started, and nobody wants that. I begin to do some martial arts training, might as well ingrain these moves into my memory.

After a few minutes of reverse punching, roundhouse kicks, axe kicks, hooks, uppercuts, jabs, and so much more, I hear someone stirring. I turn to see Kirito waking up, "Sup?" I ask him, "Wha~(Yawn) are you doing?" he asks me tiredly, I just shrug, "This game offers free martial arts lessons, might as well take them. He nods, "By the way" I add, he looks at me, "Don't look to your right."

Of course, he does so.

He jumped and flew backwards, "Wha-what?" I laugh, "She's been sleeping there since I woke up." the Black Swordsman shakes his head, "Alright then, should we watch for PKers?" I nod to his suggestion, "Yeah, that's what I've been doing."

Kirito just stands, while I resume training.

"Hey, how about we spar together?" Kirito suggests, I smile, "Sure, I'm game, no weapons, just fists, first to surrender, you good with that?" He nods, and we both unequip our swords. We stand a few yards from one another, Kirito looking serious, and I bouncing on the balls of my feet.

I lunge and reverse punch him, but he side steps out of the way, and aims to knee me. I swiftly dodge and aim an axe kick straight for his shoulder, but he dodges and closes in, aiming a punch at my face. I grab his arm and redirect his punch towards the side, and uppercut him right in the chest. His HP goes down a very small bit, signifying my win.

"You got skills Kirito, I'll give you that!" I praise.

"Thanks, you too!" he replies, "Where did you learn some of those? Not all of those were from the Martial Arts Skill" I relax, "I did Tae-Kwon-Do with my sister" I explain. "Victoria" Kirito mutters, I immediately rush him and slam him into the tree, "How the hell do you know that?!"

"Dusk!" he cries, surprised, I let him go, "I assume you know my real name then?" Kirito nods, but understood why I attacked like that, "Sorry, Xander…" I sigh. "Well, what's yours?" he stumbles, "What?" I extend a hand, "You know mine, so tell me yours" He nods.

"I'm Kazuto, Kazuto Kirigaya, I turn 16 this year" he freezes, "I also know your...job, just so you know, Dusk told me not to tell you...but..." I sigh, "Alright then, let me introduce myself properly, I am Agent Xander Yurrikuta, at your service, I turn 18 this year" I mock bow. I then get back into my fighting stance, "Let's go a few more rounds eh?" He smirks and nods. I throw my fist...

* * *

Kirito and I sat on the stone fence near the tree where now only Asuna slept, it had turned to dusk, with the sun closing in on the horizon. We went six more rounds, the score was 5:2, my favor. We heard rustling behind us and turned to see Asuna, drooling slightly and some grass stuck to her face, I noticed Kirito's face went a little red, but that could be the fact her hand's on her rapier. WAIT A MINUTE HER RAPIER!

I jump behind the stone fence a second after Kirito. " _Bit slow there…"_ Maria comments, I internally sigh and observe the current situation. No one is moving.

"One meal…" Asuna mutters, "Huh?" Kirito asks. "One meal, my treat, since...you watched over me" Kirito and I nod in understanding, but I hold up a hand, "I can't go with _you_ , but I'll bring Aero to the same place, don't want her to think take things the wrong way" Asuna glares slightly, "She'll know the difference." I nod, "Maybe, but she's _very_ possessive...and I prefer to play it safe." " _I'll say!"_ Maria added in my head, she saw what happened when a girl tried to flirt with me two days ago. Let's just leave it to the imagination since Aero was there at the time.

After a minute of thinking from my comment, Asuna nods. And soon we were on our way to restaurant.

* * *

Aero, Asuna, Kirito, and I sat a table discussing sleep PKer's, and how there was a massive jump in the amount of them. I had growled when we began mentioning them, just thinking about when I did... _that_ in Gorhon's lair, it makes me sick. Luckily, Aero managed to calm me down by putting her hand on mine, surprising Kirito and Asuna, since Aero was much more soldierish towards everyone else.

"By the way…" Aero begins, "I hear Laughing Coffin's making larger moves, it's just a rumor, but crime rate has nearly doubled. I nod, before the meeting today, I was capturing some red players...not fun. "I just hope there's still no way to PK in safe zones…" Asuna waves her hand, "That can't happen, it's called a safe zone for a rea-" She was cut off.

By a high-pitched scream of terror.


	13. Ghost?

**February 27, 2024. Draxen POV**

Asuna, Aero, Kirito, and I immediately ran out of the shop, and towards the scream. We came into the town's plaza to find a large group of people, looking at…

"What the?!" I exclaim in shock.

...a man in armor hung over the railing of a building, with a red and silver sword with what looked like thorns on its edge, sitting comfortably within his chest. Not so comfortable with the armoured knight mind you.

"I'll get him down" Asuna states, running into the building, "I'll help!" Aero shouts as she runs after her. Kirito turns to me, "I'll see if I can find out who did this" I nod, "Alright, I'll run a perimeter, make sure nobody ran" I tell him as I run off

" _What's so distressing? You can't lose HP inside of a safe zone!"_ Maria says to me, questioning my panic as I run through the town. "Doesn't matter Maria!" I snap, "Someone still did this, and we can't let that slide" I feel mentally feel Maria recoil.

"Sorry, I'm just scared that someone might find a way to cheat the system" I apologize, "As a government hacker, I know there is no such thing as a perfect system, everything has glitches or bugs or weak points"

" _Sorry...I can be kind of direct I guess…"_ Maria says timidly, I sigh, which isn't easy to do while sprinting, "If I complained about that I'd be a hypocrite, I'm normally very direct too" I finally stopped running and came back to the plaza...

Only to find the armoured man was nowhere to be seen.

I run up to Kirito, "Nobody I could see besides shoppers, what happened here?" I ask, trying to seem as calm as possible. Kirito looks down, confirming my fear.

"Shit!" I mutter. I don't normally swear, unlike Dusk…

Good term for the situation Draxen" a voice comments, a note of panic just barely in her voice, I turn to see Aero.

"I'll go see what happened up there" Kirito says as he walks into the building, which I found strange since Aero was just up there, but I know he wasn't the culprit. "We have a witness, a girl named Yolko, said it was her friend, Kains" I nod, at the information.

"That has to hurt, I assume we're talking with her tomorrow?" Aero nods at my question, "Yeah, I don't blame her for being scared, I'd be too" Aero says, "Hell, I _am_ scared" she shakes slightly, and puts her head in her hands. I put my hand around hers, "Hey, we'll find out who did this, and I swear to God we will make sure this never happens again, alright?" Aero stops shaking and looks at me, "How are you so calm?" she asks, her voice wavering slightly.

"I'm not, I'm terrified, but I have to keep focus on the task at hand" I tell her. Suddenly we hear Kirito yelp in pain. We give each other a quick glance and rush into the building. When we get there, Aero and I just sigh.

Kirito was shaking his hand and an angry Asuna stood by the door. "I'm not gonna bother asking what happened" Aero sighs as she facepalms lightly.

"Anyways" Asuna begins, "we need someone to appraise this" she gestures to the sword that impaled the knight. Kirito speaks up before me, "I might know a guy" he says.

* * *

 **Floor 50**

Kirito walks into a small shop on the street, which I recognized pretty quickly, it was Agil's shop. "Hey Kirito, what's up?" he greets. I walk into view, "Oh, hey there Draxen, Dusk send you for another shipment?" I shake my head at Agil's question, and put my elbow on the table, "No, unfortunately-" I'm cut off when Aero and Asuna walk in, and Agil suddenly grabs Kirito and I and brings us over and under the counter.

"Dudes, what on earth are _they_ doing here?" Agil asks, looking at us like we were insane. I growl, "Do you have a problem with that?" Agil quickly let's me go, despite Agil being a head and a half taller than me, I was stronger than him in the game, but we were both front liners.

"We need your help Agil" Aero tells him, which shocks Agil, "Huh? Alright what is it you need?" he asks. Kirito and Asuna explain the situation, and leads us into the backroom.

We sat around a table that now had the sword on it. Agil picks it up and appraises it, "Hmm...this is a pretty high level weapon, I can't make out much, but it's name is Guilty Thorn."

"Fitting name" I comment. Aero lightly smacks me on the shoulder, "Not the time." She muttered. " _Ha ha! You just got told!"_ Maria taunts. "Shut Maria" I whisper, but not quietly enough.

"Maria?" Everyone but Aero asks, I had already told her about Maria.

I sighed, "You see this amulet?" I ask, lifting the amulet. It was a red ring with an orb of amethyst in the center, "It's called the Amethyst Charm of the Ghost, but it has an AI trapped inside, who is named Maria"

" _Hi everyone!"_ she greeted, startling everyone in the room who didn't know about her. Yes, Maria could talk to others, but chooses not to unless its Aero.

"OK then…" Agil mutters.

"Let's get back to the task on hand" Kirito says, taking the sword and looking at it.

"What are you doing?" Aero asks, as Kirito raises the sword.

"Testing what this thing can do!" he says as he thrusts the sword towards his palm, but before he can introduce Guilty Thorn to his hand, Asuna lunges and grabs his arm, "You idiot! What on earth are you thinking!?" I look towards Aero with a smirk, she returns my expression, I turn to Agil, he too has the smirk of knowing.

"Why are you all smirking like that?" Asuna and Kirito ask from their current position, looking at us with confused expressions.

"Nothing, nothing at all" Aero, Agil, and I say in sync. The two unaware and oblivious people return to their normal positions.

"Anyways, if you want to know more about this weapon, I'd suggest talking to Dusk" Agil says, "he's the only player who's maxed out almost all of the skills dealing with weapon making." I nod at this, "Yeah, Dusk was gonna be my first choice, but he was busy with some request, and had to restock"

"And get today's shipment over here" an icy and harsh voice spoke from the doorway, which was then followed by a light roaring/chirping sound. We turn to see Aincrad's undisputed badass of the year, Dusk, with Blizzard on his shoulder as usual. **(You have to admit it, Dusk really is a badass)**

"What do you need me for?" he questions, with the coldness of ice, which normally means he's neutral, if he's pissed, his voice is deadly quiet and colder than liquid nitrogen.

"I was hoping you could appraise this, it's too high of a level for me" Agil requests, showing the sword to Dusk. The Alpha sighs and takes the sword, "Name, Guilty Thorn, Attack is 440-500, Durability is at 89%, made from Blood Iron found on Floor 39, Creator is Grimlock" Dusk lists off, "Happy?" we all nod. He furrows his brow, "Alright, what's up? I know you didn't want that appraised for no reason" I explain the situation to him.

"Alright then" Dusk says, "one question." "What is it?" Asuna asks him.

"Who said you can't kill in a safe zone?" Asuna turns red. I facepalm, "Out of all the questions you could have asked, why that?" Dusk chuckles, which is normal as long as he chuckles when people question his actions, "Because I had a hunch somebody jinxed that just before it happened"

"You have the strangest hunches" Kirito comments. Blizzard laughs at that, which sounds like rhythmic chirping.

"I get that alot" Dusk replies, "anyways, since you're trying to figure out what the hell happened, I'll let the appraisal come with no cost"

"You were gonna make us pay for it?" Asuna asks, Dusk shrugged, "Guy's gotta eat" Agil sighs, "No offense man, but ain't you the richest player in the game?" again Dusk shrugged, "Guy's gotta eat a lot" we all anime fall at that.

"I'm leaving, I left the shipment behind the counter" Dusk states as he exits the building with his silver wolfskin cloak swishing behind him.

"Say Draxen, is he like that in the real world?" Asuna asks me, I nod, "Yeah, most of the time, unless he certain conditions are met, he's cold as ice, but that's just how he rolls" Kirito nods at this, he's the only one besides Aero and me to know him well enough to understand that that's his neutral behavior.

"Anyways, aren't you two going to talk to Yolko tomorrow?" Asuna and Kirito nod, "Yeah, but it might help if you were there" Asuna suggests, I shake my head, "I don't think so, also, I want to look around the crime scene, maybe find a new angle" Aero nods at my idea, "I was planning on doing that as well, maybe Maria could find something out"

"Alright then, thanks for doing what you could Agil" Kirito says as we get up and start to head out. "No problem man, anytime you need help, I'll have my door open" Kirito nods in appreciation and exits with me close behind.

"See you tomorrow" I say to the Black Swordsman and Lightning Flash as we part ways. Aero and I walking back to our current inn hand in hand.

* * *

 **February 28, 2024**

Aero and I were inspecting the plaza, checking to see if anything seemed off. There was nothing at all.

"Well then, might as well check on Kirito and Asuna" Aero suggests, I nod, "Funny, I was about to suggest the same thing" Aero giggles, "I guess great minds think alike?" I laugh at that.

" _Awwww so sweet"_ Maria comments sarcastically, Aero sighs, "Ruined the moment Maria" "Definitely" I add. " _I can't help it! You guys act like newlyweds on their honeymoon!"_ I went a deep red, and I'm pretty sure Aero did too.

" _Ohhh...so you were considering it weren't you Draxen?"_ she teases, calling me by my player name, judging from Aero's lack of reaction, Maria only spoke to me that time. "No comment" is all I said, as I begin walking to where Kirito and Asuna were talking to Yolko.

* * *

"So...you believe, that a ghost of your fallen guildmate is haunting you?" I ask, to make sure I heard Yolko and Schmitt, who had apparently joined the questioning, correctly.

"Y-yes, it has to be!" Yolko cries in fear. I lean against the wall of the inn's room, "I'm skeptical about this, I don't believe that ghosts are implemented in the game" I tell her.

"But what else could explain Kains death!?" Schmitt shouts. "A glitch, no game is perfect" Aero states. "I don't think it was a glitch though" Kirito inputs, "Glitches are by chance, and I think this was planned" I nod my finger towards him, "Good point Kirito, but I don't think Griselda came back as a ghost" Asuna nods, "Yeah, it doesn't make sense for a ghost to attack in a crowded area"

"But it has to be!" Yolko states in a panic, standing up and backing towards the window, I found that odd, why couldn't' she just walk normally? "She's been targeting those who voted to keep it! What if we-" she lurches forward, as she turned to try and maintain balance, we all saw a knife embedded in her back. She fell out of the window breaking into polygons, leaving nothing but the knife.

"I see someone!" Kirito shouts and jumps out the window, "Kirito, wait!" Asuna yells, I run, "Draxen!" Aero shouts knowing what I'm doing. I jump out of the window, despite Aero shouting at me, which I am _so_ going to pay for.

"Kirito! I'm right behind you!" I shout towards the Black Swordsman in front of me. I see the cloaked figure, "Nice try" I mutter, and flick some two throwing knives in my hand. "Hyah!" I shout as I throw them towards the murderer who is pulling out a teleport crystal.

Before they can use it, I watch with satisfaction as my knives hit their mark, eliciting a low grunt of pain I can only hear thanks to my high listening skill, which I need as a bounty hunter for eavesdropping targets. Thankfully, that grunt gave me a clue about the figure, it was definitely male. But after that, they teleport away.

"Dang It!" Kirito shouts, it was then I realized I should have used paralysis daggers. "C'mon Kirito, let's head back" I tell him, cursing myself for my stupidity.

* * *

"Did you at least get them?" Aero asks pointedly, oh I am soooo gonna pay for that. " _Yes you are"_ I mentally wished that Maria wouldn't be so sarcastic. I shook my head, "No, I hit him, but I stupidly forgot to use paralysis knives, but I do know it definitely isn't Griselda or a ghost"

I look around, "Where did Schmitt go?" I ask them. "He ran out when Yolko was...attacked" Asuna said. I nodded, "Alright, well, I hit the guy with knives, and he gave out a grunt, which, due to the lowness of his voice, points to the high possibility of the attacker being male"

"But who would attack them then?" Asuna asks, I look at Kirito and Aero, who both nod at me, confirming they thought the same as I.

"I think someone hired Laughing Coffin to kill them"


	14. Laughing Coffin

**February 28, 2024 - Draxen POV**

Laughing Coffin. The one guild whose sole purpose is to kill other players, they disgust me. Now that I think about it, they were the ones Aero tested me against to become a bounty hunter when I first met her...

* * *

 _ **February 12, 2023**_

 _I wandered through the streets of the town on Floor 11, searching for the contact Asuna directed me to… she said she would be around here…_

" _Excuse me, are you looking of something?"_

 _I turn to see a girl with blue hair and green eyes, she wore standard armor, simple iron breastplate, leather clothing underneath. I wore a purple long coat, along with a purple fedora, so I stood out among others._

" _Yes" I answer the girl, "I'm looking for a bounty hunter working for Asuna, I want to see if I can become one myself"_

" _Oh, I don't know anyone like that, but if you're becoming a bounty hunter, you're gonna take out the bad guys right?"_

" _Yeah, for pay of course, guy's gotta eat"_

" _Of course" the girl thinks for a minute, then lightly slaps the side of her head. "Oh, I completely forgot! I'm Aero, by the way, and you are…"_

" _Draxen"_

" _Draxen...Wait, aren't you the one with the unique skill?"_

 _*Sigh* "Yes…"_

" _Well...you're strong right?"_

 _I shrugged, "I guess...not as strong as some of my friends"_

" _Either way...since you're becoming a bounty hunter...do you think you could deal with a rogue player up near the gate?"_

 _I leaned in, "I'm listening"  
_ " _This guy is a red player, he's been demanding 'fees' for passing 'his gate'" Aero explained to me with a serious look, and pointed at a gate to the outside elements. "If they don't pay up...he kills them" I grimace, I hate people like him._

" _I see...do you know his weapon of choice?"_

" _Smart one...most people would just rush in" Aero mutters, making me slightly suspicious. "He wields an axe"_

 _I nod, "What's his level?"_

" _I dunno, I'd say maybe 20? Most people here 10 or lower, so they don't fight much"_

 _I think for a minute, "Alright, I'll get a prison crystal and take care of it" I tell Aero before motioning to leave._

" _Wait!" I turn to Aero._

" _I have one, right here" she hands me a blue crystal, I check the coordinates on it, and it is set to the prison. I raise an eyebrow, this seems to odd, first that odd comment, and now happening to have a prison crystal?_

 _I shake my head out of my reverie, "Thanks, I'll go right now"_

 _Aero nods. And I disguise myself with weaker armor to fool the red player._

" _Hey" I state simply._

" _Why, hello there!" The red player greets kindly...too kindly, doesn't he know I can see his red cursor? "Do you have your payment?" he asks._

" _Oh, I'm sorry, what's the payment?" I ask politely, acting innocent._

" _Simple, all your items and col" he then grinned ferally, "or your life"_

" _Question, what will you do with them?"_

" _Give them to my guild mates of course, Laughing Coffin's gotta start somewhere!"_

" _I see, will this suffice?" I pull out the prison crystal._

" _What else-wait!" He realized what he did too late, as I immediately sent him to prison. One lone guy? Psh...I could have handled him in my sleep, I just didn't want to shed blood...or pixels, in this case._

" _Nice job taking care of him!" Aero praised me, I felt something warm in my cheeks but I dismissed it._

" _Why thank you, does that complete your test fellow bounty hunter?" I tell her, she smiles at my words, "Nice, your clever too, I suppose I should reintroduce myself-" she opens her menu and changes her gear, now wearing a black leather jacket with blue jeans, and a large spear strapped to her back._

" _-I am Aero, or I am known as the Bounty Hunter Nightmare"_

 _I mock bow, "It is a pleasure, or horror, given your namesake, to truly meet you" Aero giggles at my antics._

" _I have a feeling we'll get along just fine"_

* * *

"What else are you thinking Draxen?" Asuna asks me. I shake myself out of my thoughts, I had more pressing matters to deal with, such as Safe Zone killings by Laughing Coffin.

I blushed in embarrassment, "Actually...I took a trip down memory lane…" Aero facepalmed, "Out of all the times...now?" she still sounded pissed from when I disobeyed her. Shit. I heard Maria mentally laughing at me, _From the looks Aero is giving you, you're screwed!_ I mentally sigh, like I didn't know that.

"I'm sorry alright!"

*Sigh* "You are not gonna like what's going to happen when we're done with this"

I gulped. I heard Kirito and Asuna chuckling next to me, I turned and glared, "Wait till you're in my position one day Kirito, you'll see the pain…" I quitely hissed at him. Kirito just wore a smug grin and laughed more.

"What made you think Laughing Coffin did this?" Aero asked, trying to get back on topic.

"Skilled Knife Throwing, as well as stealthy disappearances" I explain.

Kirito stopped laughing and turned serious after Aero and I spoke, "But aren't you two skilled in those same traits? Couldn't that also be a Rogue?"

Rogues are bounty hunters gone bad, they work for murder guilds, or whoever pay the highest amount.

Asuna nodded, "Kirito has a point, but still, that means somebody hired someone else"

"I don't know…" Aero mumbled. I shrugged, "Well, we are all highly stressed, so I think we need to rest up, think a little bit" I suggest, the other three nod at my idea.

"You two should think with each other, I'd think you'd do well as a duo" Aero stated, then grabbed my arm tightly. "Besides, I need to talk with Draxen here for a bit" She said with a forced smile as she dragged me out, with Kirito and Asuna laughing at me.

Only one word went through my mind as Aero dragged me back to our temporary home/inn.

Shit.

* * *

 **Dusk POV**

I got a message from Black, wanting me to examine another crime scene. Great. Oh, I should explain my nicknaming system to you fools.

Black is Kirito.

White is Asuna.

Violet is Draxen.

Blue is Aero. Once called her Airhead, first time I regretted something.

Blizzard chirped from my shoulder, I chuckle as I walk and scratch her under the chin, making her coo.

I examine the inn room, and ask Blue what happened here, I would ask Violet...but he was knocked out and lay face down on the couch, much to my sadistic amusement.

"So...what the hell happened here?"

Aero gave a detailed description of everything that went down, I laughed at Draxen being a justified dumbass as usual, but aside from that I caught something.

"How did she move to the window?" I ask her.

Aero tilted her head, "She just kept backing away in fright...why?"

"If somebody is after you, why the hell would you not pay attention to a fucking obvious open window, where _anyone_ can strike a blow?"

Aero looked confused, until her eyes widened, "Wait- you don't mean-!"

I nod, "'Bout time you get it" I turn to Draxen.

"The hell happened to him by the way?"

"Like I said, he jumped out a window, even though I told him not to because he had to help guard Schmitt"

"Controlling, much? Violet hates that"

"No, just making a point across on to not jump out damn windows" I felt Blizzard laugh at Aero's comment, which is just rhythmic chirping.

"Fair enough, but next time, let me land some hits on him, I owe the bastard for a few snarky remarks"

"I...heard that…" Draxen mumbled, trying to get up slowly. No success. He had paralysis on him.

"Oh, now you wake up?" I ask skeptical.

"I was conscious when you came to the conclusion of what really happened, my body, on the other hand, was _literally paralyzed!_ " he said, shouting slightly on the last few words.

I then got a message from White.

 _Kirito figured something out, the 'deaths' were faked, using armor durability  
-Asuna_

I sigh, and message back to her.

 _Just came to the faked deaths conclusion. Thanks for explanation._

I explain to Violet and Blue what Kirito discovered.

"I see…" Draxen mutters, "So the player I hit was Kains… but Caynz"

"That's well planned out, but why?"

I shrug, "Not my fucking problem, this is you two's and Yin Yang's damn problem"

The bounty hunters raise an eyebrow, "Yin Yang?" they ask simultaneously.

"Kirito wears black, Asuna wears white, figure the rest out dumbasses"

"Call me that one more time and I'll stick a spear in your throat" Aero threatened me.

"And I'll summon my wolves to tear you apart"

"I'll end them too, I'm level 78 Dusk, you're level 74"

"And I'll-"

"SHUT IT!" Draxen suddenly shouts from his spot on the couch, his girlfriend, Blizzard, and I look over to him, "Talk about how you'll kill each other later, also, I'm level 80 now so I could take you both on, not that I would. Anyways, could you please get me to Kirito and Asuna?"

Aero sighs, "Fine, c'mon Violet"

I glare, "Oi, only I call him that"

"Fine, c'mon Xander" That one startled me.

"When the hell-" I ask her.

"Christmas eve, Christopher" I flinch at my real name when Aero says it. Blizzard sneezes at my flinch.

"Damn you, Yuurikuta…"

"Heh heh"

Aero sighed.

 _Maybe it be best of you just all shared your real names?_ A voice says, I immediately unsheath my sword and started looking around. Aero and Draxen just laugh.

"What?!" I snarl.

"Sorry Dusk, that was Maria, my amulet" Draxen laughs.

"...I'm not gonna question it"

"Good, so, Dusk and I know each other's name, you know Dusk's name Aero, only fair you tell him yours…" Aero sighed.

"Fine...I didn't really want anyone to know but Draxen, but it is only fair, I am Alicia Hoshida, 18"

I nod at Aero, "Alright then, I'll be a proper gentleman for once and introduce myself, I am Christopher Darakai, 18, and yes, I am partly American"

"Nice to meet you" Aero says, I won't say Alicia until I'm out of this hellhole game.

"Hmph, now go drag Violet to Yin Yang, alright?"

"Alright, alright"

"Hey! I am not an object here!"

"Yes, you are" Aero and I say at the same time.

"My god…you two will be the death of me..."

* * *

 **Draxen POV**

Once my paralysis _finally_ wore off, and learning that an angry Aero is _way_ scarier than and angry Dusk, (No, I will not call them by their real names unless it's one on one or until we are out of this game), we make it to where Asuna and Kirito wanted to meet up.

Aero and I enter the same restaurant we were in when this whole fiasco started. I find Kirito and Asuna talking about something. With Asuna being ticked off at Kirito, as usual. Seriously, whenever Kirito and Asuna are alone together, they always end up pissing one another off, thankfully, they still care about each other in terms of their life.

"Hey Kirito! Asuna!" I greet kindly, Aero repeating after me.

"Oh! Hey Draxen, Aero!" Asuna greets back, Kirito just says a simple, "Hey"

"What's up?" I ask, pulling myself a seat, as well as pulling out Aero's. This caused both Kirito and Asuna to look at us funny. _You do remember they don't know about your relationship right?_ Maria asked Aero and me. We look at each other briefly before nodding, agreeing we would tell them soon.

"Nothing much really, just enjoying the victory of solving that case" Asuna said.

"I thought Kirito figured it out?"

"That's not the point, Draxen," Asuna said pointedly, causing the me to chuckle. Now that I think about it, Asuna really did seem slightly less tense around Kirito.

"So, what did you say that ticked Asuna off?" Aero asked Kirito.

"Er…"

"I get the feeling we don't want to know how he screwed up talking again…"

Aero and Asuna chuckle lightly at my comment, Kirito just huffs. I laugh at Kirito's reaction.

"Kirito? What is it"

I stop laughing to see Aero looking at Kirito with an expression of worry. Kirito turns to Asuna, "I have a very bad feeling, do you know where Yolko is? We need to get to her, fast"

* * *

I raced through the dead forest of Floor 19, knives at the ready. Kirito had a bad feeling that Laughing Coffin _was_ involved, but wasn't hired by any random player.

But by Grimlock, who did the same to Griselda.

Asuna and Aero went ahead to try and capture Grimlock, while Kirito went to guard Yolko, Caynz and Schmitt.

Maria was checking to see if anyone was near me while I ran to try and get the jump on some Laughing Coffin members.

I kept running, Maria only talking if she found someone in a certain perimeter around me.

"Agh!" I change direction towards the cry of pain, Maria having sensed someone fills me in.

 _Six players, one paralyzed. ID's are: Yolko, Caynz, Schmitt, PoH, XaXa, and Johnny Black. The latter three are all Red Players. One Player now inbound, ID, Kirito._ Maria informs me formally, she gets like that when it's serious.

I realized something, "Maria, more info on PoH, XaXa, and Johnny Black please"

 _Johnny Black: Level; 76, Status; Red, Extra; Co-Leader of Laughing Coffin_

My eyes widen, that's a high ranking member of the deadliest guild in Aincrad!

 _XaXa: Level; 75, Status; Red, Extra; Co-Leader of Laughing Coffin, Nicknamed; Red-Eyed Xaxa._

I gasp internally, that makes two high ranking of that wretched guild! The heck did Grimlock pay for this?

 _PoH: Level; 78, Status; Red, Extra; Leader of Laughing Coffin, Nicknamed; The Prince of Hell._

I nearly faint, I'm about to go up against the three most dangerous killers in Aincrad.

When I finally see the small circle where the now seven are located, yes, Kirito just got there, I see the three members slowly approaching Kirito, who, despite being level 82, doesn't have much chance against these trained killers.

Before they can get too close to Kirito, I swiftly throw three paralysis knives at them with me left hand, and draw Lunarizer with my right.

Unfortunately the Head Trio of Laughing Coffin was undeterred, and swiftly jumped back, glaring at my position. I quickly hop into view, Lunarizer's blade held near my forearm, as I crouched ready in a position. The LC member with a skull and red eyes, most likely Xaxa, steps back ever so slightly.

"I was wondering when you would get here, Draxen"

"Sorry I'm late, Kirito, got caught up with something" _With what?_ I mentally sigh to Maria, who I can talk to with my mind alone now, " _nothing Maria, child, it's a way to make a badass entrance_ " _You failed 'Papa'_ I mentally sighed again, and paid more attention to the Trio

"Boss...Maybe it'd be best if we retreat" Xaxa mutters to the player on his right, who wielded a cleaver.

"Indeed, The Phantom Twister, along with the Army, is not somebody I would like to mess with today"

Before I can try and capture them, which I was close to doing, the trio sheath their weapons and jump back into the shadows, my new knives in my left hand almost leaving my fingers.

I turn to Caynz, Schmitt and Yolko, who were shaking in fear, Schmitt being on the ground paralyzed. Yolko stutters, still in shock of what happened.

"Wh-what? H-how d-did you kn-know w-w-we were in-tr-trouble?"

I shrug, "Kirito over here had a hunch."

Caynz nodded, "Thank God for that hunch then."

"Bu-but who w-would w-w-want to k-kill us?"

"Grimlock" A new voice says.

Out of the forest steps Asuna, with her rapier pointed at the ready behind Grimlock, and Aero, her spear primed for Grimlock's head.

The 'ghosts' and haunted victim are in shock.

"Grimlock?!" they cry in confusion


	15. Changes

"Grimlock?" Schmitt asks, managing to get up, as the paralysis finally wore off.

The man in the bowler hat, turns to the three, "Hello, my old friends" he greets coolly.

"Why, Grimlock?"

The man remained silent.

"He wanted to kill you to cover up the tracks" Aero states.

"Tracks?"

"Yes, Yolko, tracks" Asuna begins, "the tracks that led him to killing Griselda!"

The trio gasped in shock, and to be honest, I don't blame them, their old guildmate just tried to get them assassinated.

"Wha-" Caynz tried to speak, but his voice failed him.

Schmitt, on the other hand, looked disgusted, "You killed Griselda?! How could you! Was it just for the ring and money!?" At Schmitt's final words, Grimlock chuckled darkly.

"Money?...Ha...ha…"

The three lower leveled players backed away slightly, I glared hard at Grimlock.

"Not money...I did it, because I had to!"

"Had to? How the hell does that make sense?!" Kirito shouted at the man. Grimlock turned his head towards her, I grip Lunarizer tighter, incase I need to incapacitate him. I noticed Asuna and Aero tensed up as well, ready to strike.

"You see, child...Griselda wasn't just my in-game wife, we were wed in the real world too" Grimlock's former guildmates gasped. I grew furious, how could he murder his own wife?! And in cold blood?!

 _It disgusts me as well Draxen…_ Maria growled.

"In the real world, she was the best wife, submissive, kind, gentle. But she changed when we entered this death game," Grimlock began, "she changed too much, became to dominant, became to happy. It wasn't supposed to be like that!" he shouted that last part, his head returning to his normal position.

I slowly went to Aero's side, noticing she had become agitated, to an extreme point. I don't know why, but she was. Before she lashed out, I lightly grabbed her hand, and she visibly relaxed. I focused my attention back to the disgusting excuse of a human, who had still been explaining.

"-to preserve those precious memories, I had no choice but to kill her! That way she lives on as the way I remember her, to save her!" Grimlock finished.

Asuna slowly sheathed her rapier and moved around to face Grimlock, stopping next to Kirito.

"You didn't save her, Grimlock," Asuna said, with a clear edge to her voice, "You killed your wife, because you were too selfish to accept she had changed!"

At those words, Grimlock's mind seemed to break. His eyes widened, before he collapsed to the ground, sobbing. Yolko, having finally gathered her wits, walked up to Kirito and Asuna, along with the rest of her former guildmates.

"Thank you, Kirito, Asuna" Caynz thanked, nodding at each of them respectively.

"We'll take it from here" Schmitt added, as he and Caynz roughly grabbed the broken man. Yolko followed close behind them.

Us four watched as the trio and disgrace walked into the distance. Asuna then turned to Kirito.

"Hey, Kirito?"

"Yeah?"

"If you discovered something new about somebody you love, what would you do?"

Kirito was clearly unprepared for the question, and went slightly red in the face. I chuckled lightly under my breath. _Those two are so oblivious, kinda like you father_. I let the thought of her new nickname for me linger in my head," _Father huh? You can be childish at times…_ "

Before Maria could respond to my teasing, I heard Kirito answer Asuna's question.

"I...guess I'd feel...lucky? That... I get to see a whole new side of them? I mean, i would already love them...so… I would be happy I could see another side to them?"

In my opinion, it wasn't that bad of a save. But Kirito still shrank slightly at Asuna's stare, before she voiced her opinion.

"Good answer"

I saw Aero turn to me, her agitation gone now, and a playful glint in her eyes.

"How about you Draxen? What would you do if you saw me in a new way?" I saw Kirito and Asuna widen their eyes at my girlfriend's wording. I saw Kirito whisper something to Asuna, who gasped. I turn back to Aero, who still had on a playful expression.

I smile slightly, "Why, I would do this, of course" I respond, opening my menu and tapping a few things.

Everyone's expression turned to shock at what appeared in front of Aero.

 _-Do you accept Draxen's marriage proposal?-_

 _-Yes- -No-_

Aero smiled brightly at me, "Good answer" and pressed the 'Yes' button.

* * *

 **April 12, 2024, Floor 53**

 _ **DUSK POV**_

It's been a little over a month since Violet...no, Gray had 'married' Blue. I'm pretty damn sure honeymoons don't last two weeks, because gods were they insufferable. You could practically see the hearts in their eyes. _UUUGGGHHH_.

I'm happy for them though, at least, Draxen. Who ditched the fedora, finally, as well as getting some new gear, making him completely gray. I did a little enhancing of his gear, so I know it well.

His duster coat, (Vestments of Neutrality), which had impressive defense, and increased his VIT by 10. His new boots also were gray, (Boots of Equilibrium) which gave a nice speed boost. Not that the speedy bastard needed it, he was always a track runner. Not the best, but not the worst by far.

To be honest, I am truly happy for Draxen. Not because he gained the balls to propose to Blue, which did impress me, but no. I'm happy for him because he finally has a reason to live.

Draxen isn't suicidal, but he was in deep depression for quite some time, and constantly claimed, "I have no reason to move forward, I'm just waiting to die".

When SAO came out, he was the happiest I've ever heard him be. Now, when he gets out, he most likely won't be in depression anymore. I wonder how Victoria and his parents would react to Aero though...

Hey...what's that look for? The hell you thinkin' now?! That I'm soft?! Hah! I'm not, I just care what happens to my friends, Draxen already has a mental problem aside from depression.

"Hey, Dusk?"

I snap out of my thoughts and turn to the once depressed teenager, "What is it Gray?"

"Gray? Really? You changed the nickname since I changed my clothes?"

"Yep, now where's your keeper"

He went red in the face, "Shut it"

I smirked maliciously, "Make me"

He showed me his profile, and I struggled to not be shocked. Draxen was level 86, and I was level 75! Damn...guess I should get on the grind soon...I haven't done _that_ in a while. Heheh.

I sighed at Gray, "Fine, what the hell did you come here for, Draxen?" I ask harshly.

Draxen sighed, and handed me Lunarizer. I raise an eyebrow before glaring.

"The hell? Are you returning the weapon? It's perfectly fine!"

Draxen nodded his head, "I know...but, it's uncomfortable to wield, and I'm working on other sword styles, you know?"

I nod, curtly, "Fine. What do you need and why?"

"Hmm...you're the expert on weapons Dusk, you make the call" He tells me as he shows me his skills. He certainly had a variety.

[Zatoichi Style: Maxed]

[One Handed Sword: Maxed]

[Sprint: 800/1000]

[Listening: Maxed]

[Hiding: Maxed]

[Searching: Maxed]

[Extended Weight Limit: 734/1000]

[First Aid]

[Rapier: 459/1000]

[Katana: 651/1000]

[Knife Throwing: Maxed]

[Phase: Maxed]

"Interesting set there, Gray" I comment, going through possible weapons for him. He couldn't wield a claymore like me, nor my falchion...and Zatoichi style _was_ originally meant for katanas, why the idiot used it with a long sword is beyond me.

Finally I came to a conclusion.

"A scimitar, it should work with all four of your sword styles"

His eyes widened, "Really?"

I rolled my eyes, "No...I was kidding" I sighed, before bursting from his idiocy, "Yes, really!" Blizzard flew off my shoulder when I slammed my fist onto the counter.

Draxen stepped back, "Sorry, just wasn't sure if I heard you right, no need to be a jerk about it.

I sighed again, "I'll only say this once alright?" I cough, then speak once more, "I'm sorry, but I haven't had time to get materials and I am really stressed right now...alright?" Blizzard cooed as she nudged my arm, as usual I scratched her under her chin, her favorite spot.

Draxen's eyes widened at my sudden breaking of character, but he knew why, thankfully.

"It's fine Dusk"

"Don't get mushy with me!" I go back into character, Draxen chuckles under his breath.

"Alright, how long will it take then?"

"A while, I need to drop some supplies first, as well as get more materials"

Draxen nodded, "Alright then" he turns and waves as he exits my shop.

I turn and gather some weapons and gear, Blizzard following me.

* * *

I arrive at Agil's shop. Silently, I open the door and take the items out of my inventory and onto the counter.

"Agil. Shipment is here" I say simply, even though there was nobody there.

"Hey, thanks Dusk!" Agil said, suddenly appearing behind the counter, with a sweatdrop. Good. He knows I hate waiting, Draxen learned the hard way.

"How much?"

"Hmm...20,400 col for the swords, 12,900 for the shields, and...9,300 for the armor.

"...1,000 more on each item" I say.

"What?! Dude, you _literally_ have millions of Col, why do you need it?" Agil protested.

"...I'm working on something, and it requires the best materials, and they are not cheap" I say, trying not to give too much away. I do have some trust in Agil, after all, might as well show it.

"Alright, that's the best I'll get out of you, so 30,400 for the swords, 15,900 for the shields, and 18,300 for the armor?"

"Deal. Pleasure doing business with you" I say coldly.

He said something as well, but I don't know what it was, nor do I care. Time to deliver the materials to Lisbeth then.

I met Lisbeth while gathering some ores back on floor 31, and we decided to make a deal. I give her materials from the higher floors, and she gives me materials from lower floors. Sounds like a bad deal, but the lower floor materials are used in basic smithing, and are used a lot. And damn it gets annoying to constantly refarm materials.

I enter Lisbeth's shop on Floor 37, and was met with an interesting surprise.

Kirito and Silica were also in the store.

"Hey, Onii-chan!" Silica greeted me, which, I do admit, made me smile slightly.

"Hello, Alpha" Kirito nodded.

"Hello again, Black Swordsman" I nod back.

"Huh?!" We turn to to the pink haired smith, "You all know each other!?"

"Yep" the three of us said in unison.

Lisbeth sighed, "Well, this player here just broke one of my best swords-" I was offended. "Kirito! How could you?!"

Lisbeth nodded her agreement, "Yeah, ho-"

"I thought **I** was your main smith! C'mon!"

Lisbeth stopped right in her tracks, "Wha-"

Kirito laughed, "Sorry, but I heard you yelling at Draxen from across the floor"

I sighed, "Fair enough"

"Hey! Your going to repay me since you broke my sword!" Lisbeth shouted, regaining our attention, Silica stopped laughing at me and Kirito's exchange.

I interject, "I'll do it, since I owe him for helping me out during a dungeon"

"Woah, _you_ do repay your debts!" Kirito input sarcastically. I sighed.

"I can still take it back"

That shut him up. He nodded to me in a thanking manner, and left the shop, leaving Silica, Lisbeth, and me.

"Fine then, you and I will get some new ore on floor 55, it's guarded by a boss"

I raised an eyebrow, Floor 55 huh? I thought Draxen said there were no Field Bosses, and 55 is one of the newer floors…

I sigh, "Fine…" I needed the ore anyway for Draxen's scimitar.

"Can I come to?" Silica asked me, I nodded.

"Yeah, you and Pina can come along with us"

"Yay!"

And with that, the three of us went out to go get some ore.


	16. Deus Vult!

**April 12, 2024, Floor 55**

 **DUSK POV**

"HOW ARE YOU NOT COLD?!"

I sighed in annoyance once again at the pink haired blacksmith's question. I had decided to adamantly remain silent to her questions, and only speak with Silica. Funnily enough, the past 20 minutes, Blizzard and Pina were chatting away from my shoulder and her head respectively.

"She's getting kinda annoying now Onii-chan…"

I nodded to her whisper, "Indeed"

"Seriously! It's like -7 degrees out here!" **(Yes, I am using Celsius)**

"ALRIGHT!" I shouted, done with her annoying questions. I threw heavy coat on her, not _my_ coat, the Royal Wolven Cloak. I never took that off, unless I was going on a...ahhh… I always enjoy those.

"Thanks for quieting her Onii-chan"

"No need, it benefits us all" I then added in a whisper, "especially us, with her whining out of the question…"

"What are you two whispering about?"

"Nothing" we replied in unison.

"Maybe her whining is not out of the question yet…" Silica whispers to me. I chuckle at that. Good thing Draxen or Kirito aren't here, they'd be freaking out at my oddly high socialism with Silica.

The three of us walked on in silence. Silica shivering slightly, despite the heavy coat I gave her when we entered the floor. I would be lying if I said I didn't feel the cold, I've just learned to ignore it.

Lisbeth had finally decided to stop talking, I don't think she meant to be annoying, but dear god, she should get an award for "Best at Being Unable to Stop Asking Aggravating Questions".

I felt Silica lean against me while we walked, and I admit, I smiled internally. I truly did enjoy Silica's company, and while I didn't let it show, I would die if it meant Silica would live. Only person I would do that for beforehand was Draxen.

In fact, Draxen wasn't the only one who felt like he didn't have a reason to live. I lost both my parents, I'm still unemployed, and a constant burden to the only friend I have…HEY! Quit looking at me like I'm being mushy! I'm just stating the truth.

Anyways, we were probably halfway up the mountain when Lisbeth spoke once again.

"Hey...what are you two's level?"

I see Silica turn to me, looking at me, and silently asking if we should answer her question. I sigh and nod.

"I'm level 71!" I couldn't hide my shock at Silica's jump in level. A week ago when she helped me gather materials she was level 65. Noticing my shock Silica pouted. Pina cooing at her mistress's actions. Even I had to admit, it looked cute.

"What? I train too Onii-chan!"

I smile and shake my head. Causing Blizzard to sneeze in her sleep.

"Sorry, it's not that, it's just how fast you're catching up to me, I'm level 75"

We continue walking in the wintery cold. Before I realized Lisbeth hadn't responded.

"Hey, hurry up Pinky!"

When no response came, I motion for Silica to stop. I turn to see the blacksmith _frozen_ in her tracks. Ah dammit, Xander's humor has worn off on me. Yes, Xander, not Draxen. Draxen is way more serious than Xander. Xander is a mischievous little bastard when he has the motivation to move.

Anyways, Lisbeth was not moving.

"Hey, if someone is in that empty head of yours, MOVE."

Lisbeth shakes her head violently, trying to snap herself out of her stupor. I sigh.

"S-sorry, it's just, I had no idea you were both so high leveled! I'm only level 63!"

I shrug, "I help with the frontlines. Besides, my four other allies are over level 85"

Lisbeth's eyes widen, "No way, really!?"

I sigh and nod, "Yes, now hurry up! We don't have all day!"

Lisbeth pouts before she hurries along with. I turn back to face forward, but not before I hear the annoying blacksmith mutter, "Rude bastard…"

"Language!" I call back in a mocking tone. Call me a hypocrite, see if I give a fuck. (News flash! I won't.)

I didn't need to turn around to see Lisbeth's flustered face.

* * *

"Hrgah!"

I grunt as I swing Supernova, my +46 Claymore. The blueish silver blade cleaves the (Frozen Skeleton) clean in half, making it turn into my favorite scene, a monster becoming blue polygons. Blizzard flew around the polygons, giving a cry of victory, before healing what little damage I had taken.

I hear Silica 'hyah!' as she slashes through an (Ice Lizard), also turning it into polygons. Pina healing her like Blizzard did for me.

Yeah, did not expect a dungeon to be in this damn mountain.

"Hah!" I turn to see Lisbeth smash a (Frozen Skeleton) into polygons. Seems like its a lower level dungeon. Mainly because Silica and I have been two shotting these damn beasts, with Lisbeth three shotting.

"C'mon, Onii-chan! We cleared this room! Let's go!"

I chuckle at Silica's enthusiasm, "Alright alright, Imouto-chan" **(Imouto-chan means little sister)**

"Hey, are you two related IRL?"

Both Silica and I shake our heads at Pinky's question.

"Then...why do you keep calling each other Onii and Imouto chan?"

"Because we've become that close! Right Onii-chan?"

"Yep."

Lisbeth just stares at me, probably trying to get her small mind to process me being kind to somebody.

"Come on you two! Let's go!" Silica urges, beginning to run out of the current room. I quickly follow after her, Lisbeth not far behind me. Right into a large mob of (Frozen Skeletons), (Ice Lizards), (Cold Dwarves), and (Crystal Golems).

"Oh, this is not good" Lisbeth mutters, shrinking slightly as the large crowd of mobs surrounds us. I see Silica cower slightly next to me. They both see this large group of mobs as a dangerous threat.

Me?

I see them as potential chew toys.

I whistle loudly, activating the ability [Wolf King]. I see Silica visibly relax as my pack comes into existence, 75 (Guardian Wolves), all level 68. I see Lisbeth pale at the sight, probably thinking more monsters. She's technically not wrong.

I snap my fingers, "Destroy them."

It was a beautiful and terrifying sight. My wolves easily tear into the monsters defenses, ending them all as if they're nothing. Who said quality over quantity? The sheer number of my wolves easily overpowered them.

Within half a minute, the room was clear. Lisbeth was shaking in fright. I can't blame her, everyone is like that their first time seeing my wolves in action. I wave my hand, deactivating my skill, and they disappear.

"That was awesome Onii-chan!"

I chuckle, at ruffle the back of Silica's hair, the top being occupied by Pina.

"H-How…"

"I'm not called 'Alpha' for nothing, Pinky"

"... _You're_ the 'Alpha'?..." I see her face change into one of awe. I had another nickname when I go on _those_ , but that's not necessary here.

"Wait...did you just call me _Pinky_?!"

"Onii-chan...I think you may have annoyed her"

"Payback then, she annoyed us plenty"

"Hehe, good point!" Silica giggles.

I chuckle at the Dragon Tamer's actions, as we continue on through the dungeon.

* * *

"How much farther till we reach the top?" Silica asked. I shrugged, causing Blizzard to hop off and begin to fly next to me.

We had gotten out of the dungeon, finally, and we were back to climbing along the edge of the mountain. I could see the top clearly, so I assumed we were getting close, just didn't know how close.

"Hey, Dusk?"

I sighed and turned to Lisbeth, "What, Pinky?"

"First, QUIT CALLING ME THAT!" I cringed at her loud voice, "And second, who were these 'allies' you mentioned earlier?"

I gave her a questioning look, when did I say that?

"You know? You said you're other allies were past level 85? You said it before we entered the dungeon?" I do a mental 'oh' at that. I forgot, that I did mention that.

"Draxen, Kirito, Aero, and Asuna"

She perked up at Asuna's name, "How are you friends with her? You seem to hate everyone!"

"We met on the front lines. Then we helped each other out multiple times throughout the game so far. Now hurry up, you're making me slow down, and I wanna get back before dark"

"Fine"

"Onii-chan! I think I found the top!" I run up towards Silica's voice, and indeed, we had finally reached the top.

"Nice job Imouto-chan!" I praise her, causing her to smile at me.

"So this is the top huh?" Lisbeth questions rhetorically as she looks around, "I don't see the material anywhere." I sigh, of course you wouldn't find it in plain sight! I just hope there isn't a boss guarding i-

"ROOOAAARR!" Damn me and my thoughts.

"A-a-a DRAGON!" Lisbeth freaks out. Silica was also shaking, not that I could blame her. When staring down a dragon the size of a semi, one may freak out. I pointed at a pillar, and whistled, getting their attention.

"Lisbeth, Silica, stand behind the pillar, DO NOT COME OUT unless I say to. Understood?"

The two girls nodded, and ran behind the pillar I pointed at, Pina following Silica's frantic steps. I turned to the dragon, (Drake, the Blizzard King). I turn to Blizzard, who was still flying near my right, she seemed to understand me and nodded. I charged the dragon with Supernova.

The dragon flapped its wings and began to fly. Like hell I'll let it do that.

I enter my inventory and grab a few javelins, yes, I can use those. Using a skill, I launch the javelins one after the other at the dragon's wings, every single one hit its mark. The dragon roared in defiance, and I noticed about a quarter of its HP had gone down on the first of three bars.

The dragon crashed into some crystals near me, re-drawing Supernova, I charged and slashed, using -Cascade- to deal some nice damage, about another quarter of its first HP disappeared, maybe I'm not in as bad of shape as I thought?

I felt the icy tail slam into me, flinging me quite a distance...and taking about an eighth of my HP. Nevermind, I'm still in bad shape.

I whistle, trying to use [Wolf King], but to no avail. I see the dragon rushing towards me. Before the large ice being slams into me, I side step, and bring Supernova down with -Avalanche-. Thank god, I managed to nearly take out the rest of the first HP bar with that. I jump and roll to evade a wave of ice that burst forth from the dragon's icy maw.

I feel my left leg numb slightly, and sure enough, I got Frozen on my now ice covered leg. Guess I didn't complete dodge the fucker's bad breath. I growl and slam the hilt of Supernova down on my ankle, taking a small bit of HP, but having the desired effect of breaking the ice. Blizzard flew back to me, probably having flow the opposite direction when I rolled away.

When the dragon swings is tail towards me again, I jump and use -Cascade- again to bring it down to seven eighth of its second HP bar. I try to land another blow, but I'm knocked to the side by the frozen claw of the ice dragon, Blizzard lets out a cry as she heals me, leaving me with about three fifths of my HP left. Damn, guess its time to _purge_ this icy bitch from these grounds..

I unequip my current gear, and requip with my Crusader gear. Man, I hadn't gone on a Crusade in a dungeon for a while… The silver greaves and gauntlets, along with the iron chestplate, adorned with a red cross, fit comfortably on my avatar. I grin as I put my crusader helmet on, and heft my new white and gold shield, with my (Royal Wolven Cloak) now a cape. I put away my claymore and bring out Purge, my +59 Falchion. I grin sadistically under my helm as the beast comes at me again. Blizzard chirping as she healed me once again, bringing me to ⅞ of my health.

I jump and dodge, and slam Purge into the dragon's icy scales, dropping it down to half its 2nd HP bar. It roars in pain as I unleash -Deadly Sins-, the seven hit combo for my one-handed sword doing substantial damage, bringing it to about a tenth of it's 2nd HP bar left. I laugh as the thrill of battle against this heretic, I mean Dragon, courses through my blood.

As the dragon rears its head to frost breath me again, I charge under it and use -Howling Octave-, stopping its attack in its tracks and causing its HP to drop to about ⅗ in the final HP bar. Before it can strike, I unleash one final assault, I slash hard, causing the dragon to reel in pain, and it swings its head toward me in an attempt to chew me up.

"DEUS VULT!"

I shout my battle cry as I grab Purge by the blade, and slam the hilt into the dragon's forehead like an axe. The hilt sank deep, and I knew then, I had won.

The strike causes the ice dragon to stop in its tracks, and burst into blue polygons. I check the rewards for this field boss, which had a total of 12,000 HP, at least from what the info box said. I laugh as I got 3 of the ingots that Lisbeth wanted. I requip my normal gear before walking over to the two girls.

Silica laughed as she ran forward to hug me, "Onii-chan! That was AWESOME!"

Lisbeth just stared in shock. I wave my hand in front of her face. No reaction. I grin, and slap her in the face. _That_ got a reaction.

"What the- how did you…"

"I'm skilled. Here's your ingot" I transfer the ingot to her, she nods and looks at me, "Hey, thanks, sorry I dragged you into all this though…" I wave her off, "Don't care, I did it because I wanted the material too, now teleport out of here, I got things to do" She pouts, but uses a teleport crystal and in a flash of blue, teleports away.

* * *

 **April 13, 2024, Floor 51**

We all managed to get back to Lisbeth's shop by about 21:30 last night. I had immediately gone to my shop and forged Draxen's scimitar, and _dayum_ it was sweet. It was a silver blade with a turquoise edge, named (Reality Defiar), which I kindly enchanted to +35, making it a 750-790 damage weapon, one of the best in the game.

My own blade was pretty sweet too. I made (Shadow Absorber), a dark blue falchion with a silver and blue hilt, which I also enchanted to +35, making it a 760-780 damage weapon, again, one of the best.

I decided to surprise Draxen with it, because I _can_ be nice sometimes, and also because I want to tease him some more about him and Aero.

Draxen and Aero had finally bought a permanent house to reside in the cliffy region named Floor 51, in which they had a small penthouse overlooking the edge of a cliff, and the river below.

I had to go through a small forest in order to get to their home, which kinda annoyed me, because monsters _did_ live in the forest, but oh well.

By the time I could see their house, I was greeted with a sight I would hangover Gray and Blue's head for all eternity.

The Phantom Twister, was having a nap, with his head resting on the lap of a dozing Nightmare. Oh...this is too good to pass up…

I attempt to sneak up to them, in order to surprise them.

Key word being 'attempt'.

A flash of silver and Blizzard crying out in fear was the only warning I had before a knife embedded in the tree next to me.

Both bounty hunters were on their feet, beet red in the face. Hey! At least they're embarrassed!

"...Um...Sorry about that Dusk" Draxen apologizes.

"I'll let it slide this time" I warn him, despite my teasing attitude I was still pissed at him for nearly shearing my damn eye out!

"Why are you here Dusk? Not that we don't mind you visiting"

I wave Aero off.

"I came here because your hubby" I was pleased to see their squeamish and embarrassed faces, "ordered a new weapon from me, and I am here to deliver"

Draxen nodded, and walked up to me, "Thanks, how much do I owe you?"

I shook my head, "This time, it's on the house" I transfer the item to him.

He takes it with a raised eyebrow, "On what condition" I smirk.

"Smart one, once again, anyhow, the condition is..."

He tenses up, and he does have a fair reason.

"...you have to tell Aero about _that_ , you know, you're mental condition? It already happened once with those bastards"

Draxen sighed, "I know, I didn't think it could activate in here, that's why I was so confused after Gorhon…"

"Is something the matter Draxen?" I hear Aero call. Draxen nods to me, "See you, 'Alpha'" I nod.

"See you later, 'Phantom Twister'" I say after him as Gray runs back to his wife. I should prepare for tomorrow, we're going up against the 59th floor boss.


	17. Deadly Secret

**April 14, 2024, Floor 59**

 **Draxen POV**

"Hey, you tell her yet?"

I turn to see Dusk, in his wolven glory, standing by the doorway to the labyrinth. Blizzard upon his shoulder, standing as proudly as she possibly could.

I shake my head, "Not yet, I plan on telling her after this boss fight, that cool with you?"

"Just tell her before you can't" I flinch at Dusk's casually cold speech of something so morbid.

"Dusk, please, don't say something so dark so casually"

"Too bad Gray" we gain a message in our inbox. Heathcliff was telling us it was nearly time.

"You ready?" I ask him, he grins sadistically. Blizzard growls at the thought of a good fight.

"Hell yeah, let's purge the heretic from these lands!" I mentally sigh.

 _You have some weird friends father._

" _You got that right Maria_ "

* * *

"Is everybody ready?" I hear Heathcliff's stern voice rise above the frontliners. Aero now stood beside me, purple spear at the ready, and I with my new (Reality Defiar).

"YEAH!" We all cry.

"The let's clear another floor! ONWARDS!"

We enter the boss room, and we were greeted with an extremely horrifying sight.

A large black orb flew low to the ground, a large red eye was pushed into the center of it. It's wings were a golden yellow, its four arms, a blood red. Each arm held something different, I saw that the monstrosity wielded an a greataxe, a greatsword, a scythe, and a mace.

(Quad-Killer). 4 HP bars. 4 ways to kill us. Great.

"All shield users, up front!" Heathcliff orders. I watch as Dusk switches his weapon and brings out a white and gold shield, similar to Heathcliff's.

"Wait for it!"

I watch as the boss prepares to strike with the greatsword.

"Raise shields!"

The entire line of shields tense up, and prepare for the incoming greatsword.

Only to be struck from the side by the mace. I watch with horror as Dusk and the others fall to ⅔ of their HP. Dear god. Everyone is beginning to panic.

"Everyone!" We all turn to Asuna, "This boss is gonna be too versatile to take on at once! We need to split into small groups, each group having a shield user, and a melee attacker, and a ranged attacker!"

People look at each other, and nod clearly liking this new plan. Aero and I rush over to Dusk, and I give him a potion.

"Here, heal up"

*Cough*"Thanks, didn't expect the fucker to use the mace though...I assume us three will team up?"

Aero and I nod.

"Stop being in sync, I don't care if you two are the new Romeo and Juliet, just quit it, its freaky"

I laugh, "C'mon Dusk, let's destroy this thing" The three of us grin as we prepare to wreck havoc.

The three of us rush the boss, Dusk being up front to gather its attention.

And its attention we gathered.

The boss roared, somehow...I never saw a mouth on the four armed eye...Anyways, it then made to slash Dusk with the Scythe arm, but I parried the blow, and let Aero strike in some damage.

"DRAXEN!" I hear Aero cry.

I turn just in time to see a greataxe hurl towards my neck. With no choice but that or death, I activate [Phase].

I felt no pain as the greataxe passed through me. I looked down to see me body slightly fizzled, like a glitch...this could be good...

"Huh?!" Dusk exclaims. Blizzard also chirps her confusion.

"That was [Phase] Dusk, now c'mon!" Dusk nods as he blocks another strike from the boss. This time he shielded against the greatsword. I went in, [Phase] still active, and went straight through the boss's guard and right towards the center of they eye, turning my grip to Zatoichi, I use my personal -Twister-, dealing about a 15th of the boss's health. This is going to take so long.

As I jump back I deactivate [Phase], thankfully, I learned the easy way there are no consequences to using it, unlike Zatoichi style…

I notice Kirito and Asuna on the opposite side of the boss, also trading hits with the big eyed brute, Asuna appeared to being doing substantially more damage. Hey! Maybe…

"I THINK ITS WEAK TO STAB ATTACKS!" I call out to everyone.

"Thank you, Draxen!" I hear Heathcliff call back to me.

I switch my grip on (Reality Defiar) to rapier style, and I charge the boss after Dusk blocked another attack, and used -Crucifixion- taking a small portion of the boss's health away. I pull back.

"Aero, SWITCH!"

I watch Aero jump in after I pull back, and use -Impalation- on the boss, putting in some nice bleed damage. When she jumped back, my worst fears were realized.

Aero was slammed by the boss's mace into the wall. Her Hp dropping from 98% to 12%.

"AERO!" I cry in fear, but she was unconscious.

I run to help her, only to hear a cry of pain, and see Dusk sent flying, a red slash deep in his chest, his HP down to 8%. Blizzard flys after him, in order to heal him and stop his most likely death.

My mind shuts down, at the sight of the two people I care about most, being at the brink of death. I glare towards the boss.

My vision went red.

* * *

 **AERO'S POV!**

"-ero...aero...Aero...AERO!"

I groggily open my eyes, "H-huh?"

"Thank god, Draxen would kill us if you were hurt," I recognize Asuna's voice. What is going on? I voice my concern to her and she grimaces.

"Draxen attacked the boss solo."

"No...please don't-" I couldn't finish my sentence, if Draxen is truly…

"He's not dead, but he's fighting Dusk right now," a new voice inputs. I turn my head to see Kirito by Asuna's side, figures. Then something clicked in my head, about what Kirito just said.

"What do you mean, 'he's fighting Dusk?'" Kirito shrugged in an 'I don't know' manner.

"After he...brutalized...the boss, Dusk suddenly ran toward him, and they've been trading blows for several minutes," another new voice explains, this time I didn't know who's voice it was, I turn my head to see a man in his 20's, with pink hair and a red bandanna across his forehead. What was his name?

"Oh, I'm Klein, by the way." Well that clears that up. Wait, what did he say…

"What do you mean by 'brutalize'?"

The three of their faces turn dark, "Draxen normally fights somewhat honorably, you know? Like using fair tactics and all that?" I nod at Klein's words, how did he know that though? Maybe he was the one Draxen taught the Zatoichi style to.

"Draxen...was ruthless, after he saw you and Dusk nearly dead, he flipped, he began using sword skill after sword skill, throwing knives everywhere, causing numerous status effects. Poison, Paralysis, Slowness, Bleeding...he had them all."

"There's more," Asuna adds to Kirito's spiel, "His sword went blood-red-"

"That was Severing Slash, a mid-level skill for Zatoichi style," Klein explained during Asuna's addition.

"-and he slashed the boss's arms, so many times, and they just...fell off. Caused the Dismemberment status…"

"What…" I can't process what they're saying, Draxen could never be that ruthless and cruel…

"Argh!"

They three move to turn and see the source of the noise, and I now see something I never thought I'd ever see.

Draxen was trying to kill Dusk.

No...not Draxen. This things eyes were blood-red. I had to stop it. Grabbing my lance, I burst towards the creature in the shape of _my_ Draxen.

Before I can land a strike to knock him out, he _catches_ my blade. I see Dusk stop when he notices me.

"Who else is going to fall to m-" he immediately stops when he turns and sees my face. He then cries out in pain, and I see his somehow completely full HP bar drop lightning fast. Dusk had stopped fighting and just looked at me while I took care of Draxen, I had no time to examine his expression as I focused on healing Draxen.

Once Draxen was fully healed and conscious, he looked at us all in shame.

"...I'm...sorry, I never wanted any of you dragged into my little mess."

"Hey, I'll explain, you've just suffered it again, take it easy," Dusk said, and oddly warm too, what's happening? First, my Draxen becomes cruel, and now Dusk becomes friendly?

"...Thanks Dusk, but I'll do it," he assures, and looks, at me, "besides, they all deserve an explanation, especially Aero." He then takes a deep breath, and begins his explanation to Asuna, Kirito, and me. Klein had gone back to his guild, which had moved on the next floor.

"Do you know what _dacnomania_ is?"

The four of us shake our heads, and I soon hear Maria's now familiar voice enter my head. _Dacnomania, a mental diagnosis. Dacnomania is the obsession to kill. Anyone diagnosed with it are highly dangerous. Some, however, are oddly kind, and have it as a 'trigger problem'. In which if certain event happen, the dacnomania will 'trigger', and cause the target of the dacnomaniac to be in danger of a very brutal death._

"Heh, well done again, Maria" Draxen chuckles sadly.

"So...your dacnomania was 'triggered' when both Dusk and Aero were nearly dead?" Kirito assumed, asking for confirmation. Why did he hide this from me?

"Yeah, I only figured out it activated in here recently, and I didn't want to tell any of you as it was pressure enough that we're stuck here, and one slip-up is you're last," I notice tears began to fall, "and...well...you're the only friends I've made in the last several years. I was scared you'd cut yourselves away if you found out what a danger I am…"

I walk up to him, and he flinches. I raise my hand…

And I hug him, he stops crying.

"Why…? I practically lied to you…" I notice Dusk had moved the others away, probably understanding that this was a personal moment.

"You were scared Xander…we all do dumb things when we're scared…"

"But...Alicia…"

"None of those," I say, pulling back, so I could see his face. His eyes were no longer red, but they had some dry tears. I softly press my lips to his and he reciprocates. After a minute, air calls me and we break apart.

"I don't deserve you Alicia, but thank god I have you…"

"I'll always be here for you Xander, always."

"I love you, Alicia"

"I love you too, Xander"

* * *

 **May 27, 2024, Floor 63**

 **Draxen POV**

I sheathed my scimitar after finishing off the boss for the dungeon. I hear Aero walk up to me, as she was taking down the boss's ugly twin.

"Hey, I've been wondering…"

"Yeah?"

"When your dacnomania activates-" I flinch, I hate hearing it mentioned, "-sorry, but when it goes off, do your eyes really turn red?" I chuckle slightly.

"Actually, yeah, they do. Doctor says it's due to the amount of blood being suddenly pumped into my brain, and some of the blood get into the melanin in my eyes, making them turn my iris's red, and when I come off it, the blood drains out."

"Huh, interesting, anyways, we should probably head back, Heathcliff messaged me," I raised an eyebrow, and my eyes widened when she finished her statement, "They've found Laughing Coffin's base."


End file.
